February Lecture: Let’s Celebrate Hummingbirds

Ted Fleming

The Friends of SaddleBrooke Libraries are excited to announce our next lecture. Please join us on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in the DesertView Theater when Ted Fleming returns to inform us on one of our favorites, the hummingbird, along with another pollinator, nectar-feeding bats! They share many features involving their anatomy and physiology, and both are important pollinators of hundreds of species of plants.

Emeritus Professor of Biology, University of Miami, Ted’s recent book Birds, Bats, and Blooms (University of Arizona Press, 2024) tells the story of how these two species enjoyed a similar development throughout history in the world’s tropics and sub-tropics. Even though they had two very different histories, over the last 20 million years, they evolved to share an anatomy and physiology, in what is known as “convergent evolution.”

As always, this lecture is free for Friends of SaddleBrooke Libraries members and just $5 for non-members. If you are not a member or your membership has lapsed, you can learn more about our mission and join/renew at www.SBFSL.org or in person in the lobby prior to the lecture.