I keep forgetting to post this. My supervisor asked me if I'd ever seen or
heard of it (I hadn't.) She grows raspberries, and had been finding some with
a single small hole punctured in the bottom of the berry. One early evening,
she went out to pick some and noticed a hummingbird nearby. She watched in
amazement as it stuck its beak up into the bottom of several berries as it
hovered briefly (from the description, it was certainly a Ruby-throat.)
I thought of three possibilities:
1) It was mistaking the red berries for red flower blossoms and trying to feed
on them.
2) It was actually drinking the juice from the raspberries (BNA Online notes
they'll drink tree sap, but no mention of fruit juices.)
3) It was hunting the tiny insects that are often found on raspberries in
particular (or as we non-picky berry afficianados call it, "bonus protein",)
and the holes were incidental damage.
Birds of North America Online states that RT Hummers will defend a territory
under a tree with a lot of ripe or even overripe fruit, in order to guard the
supply of small insects drawn to it. I thought that might be the most
plausible suggestion, but has anyone else seen or heard of this?
Peter Fissel
Eating raspberries in
Madison WI
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