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Abstract

Bird beaks are highly adaptable, with the potential to undergo rapid morphological shifts in response to environmental change such as climatic variation or food availability. Anna’s Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) have undergone dramatic population range expansions over the last 160 years into novel climatic regimes, where supplemental feeders and introduced plant species are frequented. We used museum specimens to measure and characterize the shape of Anna’s Hummingbird bills, hypothesizing that the introduction of novel food sources and the colonization of colder climates were associated with distinct dimensions of beak morphology. We estimated feeder and Eucalyptus availability using data from archived newspaper databases and found that these two abundances are linked to population increases in Anna’s Hummingbirds, while feeders were associated with changes to beak morphology. We found that bill size and shape changed with feeder use, exhibiting a more tapered and longer bill and a distinct maxillary constriction. In males, dorsal bill shape increased in pointedness, which may have provided an advantage with increased agonistic encounters at feeders. In contrast, bill size decreased in association with lower temperatures at higher latitudes. Our data document rapid morphological changes in the Anna’s Hummingbird’s bill induced by human-caused environmental changes over the last century.

Citation

Nicolas M. Alexandre*, Faye G. Romero*, Simon G. English*, Eliza Grames, Felipe Garzón-Agudelo, Kevin Epperly, Timothy Barnes, Donald R. Powers, Audrey E. Smith, Zoë Migicovsky, Laura Stein, Saron Akalu, Haarini Sridhar, Gillian Montross, Ezra Collins, Alejandro Rico-Guevara. 2025. Supplemental Feeding as a Driver of Population Expansion and Morphological Change in Anna’s Hummingbirds. Global Change Biology. 31(5):e70237. doi:10.1111/gcb.70237.