exotic nectar “theft”

Watching Noisy Miners in the golden trumpet trees, I see that they are piercing the bases of the large flowers to access the nectar. I had heard of birds doing this with introduced blooms the world over but had not seen it before. I’m guessing Darwin never got to see this…?

For those collecting such data, this exotic genus, used as street trees in Brisbane for their brief but spectacular blossoming, (& flowering a bit later up here,) are as follows –
“Tabebuia aurea is a species of Tabebuia native to South America in Suriname, Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, and northern Argentina.”

Judith
SEQ asl 500m