Bananaquits and cauliflory at AUC

On the AUC campus you can see both bananaquits and cauliflory!  Bananaquits are cute little yellow birds that I’ve seen before in Haiti, but not very often and only 1 or 2 at a time.  Here at AUC there are many – you can always find or hear a couple at a time.  They drink nectar and come to hummingbird feeders.  One hangs out in the coconut tree right off the 3^rd floor balcony where we have dinner.  Every morning I watched it drinking at the coconut flowers (either nectar or dew, not sure).  Which made me notice the flowers turning into coconuts.

The white eye stripe of the bananaquit is distinct.

Cauliflory is the condition of fruit growing directly from a tree trunk, and is common in the tropics.  It’s an unusual sight for those who are used to seeing fruit hanging from the ends of branches.  It might occur because the fruit is too heavy for the branches.  Cacao is a cauliflorous fruit (and produces a better tasting food than cauliflower.).  This picture is a calabash tree growing on campus.

(And if you’re wondering why I haven’t been on facebook, lately we haven’t had internet on the 3^rd floor where I live, so I go to the 2^nd floor where the classrooms are and where facebook is blocked.)

Calabash tree on AUC campus.