Green-crowned brilliant hummingbird with giant thistle, Cerro de la Muerte, Costa Rica
© adrian hepworth/Alam
Spread the pollen. Pollinator Week
Let's celebrate the small heroes who help plants flourish! It's Pollinator Week, celebrating the creatures which transport pollen to help plants reproduce. While some plants are self-pollinating, or pollinated by wind or water, the majority of them are fertilized with the help of bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, birds—like the green-crowned brilliant hummingbird in today's image—and even bats. The non-profit organization Pollinator Partnership initiated Pollinator Week to raise awareness about the protection of these creatures. This celebration is now being joined by other programs and educational events around the country. Should we care? Absolutely! From fruits and veggies to nuts, chocolate, or sugarcane, there are plenty of ingredients in our diet that are brought to us by pollinators.
Striated heron on a Victoria water lily, Pantanal, Brazil
Magellanic penguins, Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands
Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
North American beaver, Moran, Wyoming
Female black-naped monarch nesting
A black heron canopy feeding, Chobe National Park, Botswana
Southern yellow-billed hornbills in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Magellanic penguins in the Falkland Islands
