For the white-necked jacobin hummingbird, looking like a male comes with big perks.
A white-necked jacobin hummingbird in a photo from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
To investigate what this might mean, researchers did a couple of things. They put tracking tags on some birds to monitor their feeding behavior. In a slightly more morbid turn, they also put out taxidermied birds to observe the reactions from live birds,They noticed a few things. For one, males had much more sexual interest in the dull-colored females. But males were also much more aggressive toward those females during feeding time, chasing, pecking and even body-slamming them,.
“Our tests found that the typical, less colorful females were harassed much more than females with male-like plumage,” lead researcher. “Because the male-plumaged females experienced less aggression, they were able to feed more often ― a clear advantage.” This is a big deal, since hummingbirds need to eat constantly. An easier time feeding can make a huge difference in their survival.
Falk told the Times that it’s still unclear what the mechanism is that allows some female birds to retain their bright colors into adulthood, but he hopes to do more research into it.
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