A water source seldom documented: white-necked thrush and dusky-legged guan drink from bromeliads, with a summary of birds drinking bromeliad water in Brazil

Bromeliads as a water source for birds are seldom recorded in the scientific literature, despite the ubiquity of these plants in the Neotropics. We describe and illustrate herein the white-throated thrush and the dusky-legged guan drinking water from bromeliads at the Atlantic Forest biome in south-eastern Brazil. Additionally, we summarise bromeliad water drinking by birds in Brazil. The available records indicate that bromeliads as water source for birds are poorly known, and all records are from the Atlantic Forest biome. We expect that perceptive observations of birds probing into bromeliads will add more records of drinking behaviour from this source in Brazil, including the Amazonian forest and even the Caatinga biomes.

Automated summary

Despite the prevalence of bromeliads as a water source for birds in the Neotropics, there is limited scientific literature on this topic. This study documents the white-throated thrush and the dusky-legged guan drinking water from bromeliads in the Atlantic Forest biome in south-eastern Brazil, and provides a summary of bird drinking behavior from bromeliads in Brazil. The current records indicate a lack of knowledge on bromeliads as a water source for birds outside of the Atlantic Forest biome, and further research is needed to explore this in other biomes such as the Amazonian forest and the Caatinga.