Flowers enlist the assistance of many agents to help them reproduce. Whilst hayfever sufferers feel the full force of wind pollination every summer, some plants turn to animals for a more targeted approach. A new fossil bird has been reported from the exceptional fossil site of Messel (google it for images of fossils, including hedgehogs!), with stomach contents packed full of pollen grains - a clear sign that the bird fed on nectar. This new discovery provides the earliest evidence for bird pollination.
Birds are important pollinators, but the evolutionary history of ornithophily (bird pollination) is poorly known.
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/10/5/20140223.full