An Anole Dines at a Hummingbird Feeder - Observation of the Week, 9/23/18

This Green Anole lapping up some sugar water at a hummingbird feeder is our Observation of the Week! It was seen in Louisiana by @vanremsen.

Van Remsen remembers being interested in pretty all types of plants and animals when he was a child, and says he had “the usual collections of bugs in jars, pressed leaves, and tropical fish tanks, and I was always fascinated with identifications.  I wanted to be able to identify every living creature in my Colorado backyard.” Birds eventually became the focus of his passion and he is now a Professor of Biological Sciences and Curator of Birds at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, where his focus is in Neotropical birds.

“I am especially interested in hummingbirds, and my Louisiana yard is an overgrown jungle of hummingbird-pollinated plants,” explains Van. He watches his feeders and has noticed Green Anole lizards on them from time to time.

I have glimpsed them suspiciously licking the feeder ports previously, but this time I was determined to photograph just exactly what this one was doing because I did not know whether this species had ever been documented drinking “nectar” (in this case sugar water).  The photo shows the tongue licking the solution, but the video link [see below] makes it clear that it is deliberately drinking from the feeder.  The question is, could it smell that the solution in the hole in the plastic “flower” was sugary and thus worth sampling, or did it just sample the liquid by chance and thus learned that it was sugary.

Herpetologist @gregpauly posted links to a few other sightings of Anoles at hummingbird feeders, but as far as I can tell Van’s question of how the lizards find the “nectar” is still unknown. However, in a paper cited here, an Emerald Anole was observed biting the red knob of a stopwatch, suggesting that color might be a factor, just as it is for the birds. Many anoles are known to eat fruit and nectar, and really who can turn down delicious sugar water, especially if it involves confusing and annoying a hummingbird?

Van heard about iNaturalist from two graduate students at the LSUMNS, @cypseloides and @henicorhina, and he uses it to help identify the non-bird organisms he comes across. 

- by Tony Iwane

- In case you can’t get enough Anoles-eating-at-hummingbird-feeder action (I can’t) here are some more videos! 

- Here’s a nice article in The Advocate about Van Remsen and the LSU ornithological collection.

- And a video of Van Remsen receiving the 2013 William Brewster Memorial Award from the American Ornithologists’ Union.

Posted on September 24, 2018 05:16 AM by tiwane