Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed last week’s post! I wanted to share more hummingbird pictures from Costa Rica with you so I thought I would continue our *trochiline theme.

Hummingbirds are florisugent – if we break down the word “florisugent” into its root components, we can easily decipher the meaning of this word. Flor is the Latin root for flower and -sugent is the Latin root meaning to suck. Florisugent means to suck nectar from a flower.

The long thin bills of hummingbirds are specially adapted to draw nectar from brightly colored flowers. In fact, the shape of a hummingbird’s bill determines what type of flower it can feed on. Even though a large percentage of their diet is nectar, hummingbirds also feed on various insects such as ants and flies.

Can you think of any other words that contain the Latin root flor? Comment and let me know!

*trochiline: relating to hummingbirds