Pollinators are just as much part of my "favorite" list of invertebrates. After all, they are the ones that tirelessly visit flowers, one after the other, with the idea of extracting nectar and pollen from these showy plant genitalia.

Pollinators come in many different forms: Geckoes and arboreal lizards often lick nectar from flowers at night, and certain birds, like hummingbirds, are attracted to flowers, too. But the largest force in pollination comes from the world of bugs: bees, wasps, bumblebees, ants and even simple flies and blowflies have been observed visiting and pollinating flowers.

As most people know, the whole process of pollination allows pollen to be spread from flower to flower, causing genetic material to become distributed and fruits or seeds to set on the plant. It literally is the way plants reproduce; therefore, pollinators need to be kept "happy" by the plant, for without those pollinators the plant species will not reproduce, have offspring, and, hence, be doomed.

Without these vital pollinators, we would have no fruit, nuts, wine or cider, as well as many species of flowering plants and timber trees — hard to imagine!