According to a recent study in Global Change Biology, a journal focused on environmental change, the use and prevalence of hummingbird feeders like those red and clear plastic ones filled with homemade sugar water - changed the size and shape of the birds' beaks in just a few generations. "Very simplified, the bills get longer and they become more slender, and that helps to have a larger tongue inside that can get more nectar from the feeder at a time," one of the biggest takeaways was just how quickly evolution -- something generally assumed to happen over millions of years can take place. "It's a demonstration of how evolution happens, like, literally in front of our eyes. And we just need to pay attention to it," he says.

Bird Feeders Have Caused a Dramatic Evolution of California Hummingbirds

https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/05/24/0213237/bird-feeders-have-caused-a-dramatic-evolution-of-california-hummingbirds?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed [image or embed]

" Slashdot (@slashdot.org) May 24, 2025 at 10:42 AM