53. Northern Double-collared Sunbird There is a slight difference between this Northern Double Collared Sunbird and the previous one: the Eastern. See if you can spot it. The relationship between flowers and sunbirds is interesting. Many flowering plants need birds (or insects or bats) to carry their pollen to other flowers to produce seeds. Plants make themselves attractive to pollinators by dressing in bright colours (sunbirds like red flowers) and serving the sugary nectar that the birds want, in such a way that the the bird will pick up some of the pollen, often on its forehead, and deposit it in the next flower. So plant and bird are joined in a mutual strategy of survival: without each other, neither will reproduce. Plants have to exclude, somehow, other creatures getting in and taking the nectar without being the right shape to pick up the pollen. So their flowers are of such a shape to ensure, as much as possible, that their preferred pollinators are the only ones to get in. Some sunbirds, however, have learned to cheat, boring a hole in the side of the flower to steal the nectar without paying the agreed price of carrying away some pollen. Birds of AFRICAMA House 110 Birds of AFRICAMA House 111