Steely-vented hummingbird

The steely-vented hummingbird (Saucerottia saucerottei) is a medium-sized hummingbird that is a resident breeder from Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. The Central American birds differ in voice and behaviour from those in South America and may be a separate species, the blue-vented hummingbird (S. hoffmanni).

Steely-vented hummingbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Saucerottia
Species:
S. saucerottei
Binomial name
Saucerottia saucerottei
(Delattre & Bourcier, 1846)
Range of S. saucerrottei
  Year-round range
Synonyms

Saucerottia saucerrottei
Saucerottia sophiae
Amazilia sophiae
Amazilia saucerrottei

Taxonomy

This species was formerly placed in the genus Amazilia. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Amazilia was polyphyletic.[2] In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, the steely-vented hummingbird was moved to the resurrected genus Saucerottia.[3][4]

Description

The steely-vented hummingbird is 9 cm (3.5 in) long and weighs 4.5 g (0.16 oz). It is mainly bronze-green above, becoming more bronze on the wing, lower back and rump, and has a blue-black tail. The male has glittering green underparts, white thighs and a blue vent. The female is duller green below and has grey-buff edges to the vent feathers. Young birds are dull dark bronze-green below.

The steely-vented hummingbird has a trilled descending chit call in South America, but the Blue-vented from Central America has a high sharp tsip. The male's song in Costa Rica is a buzzy bzz WEEP wup.

Distribution and habitat

This hummingbird inhabits open woodland such as second growth, coffee plantations, gardens, savanna, and the edges and gaps of evergreen forests. It occurs from sea level up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft).

Behaviour

The nest is a cup of plant down and cobwebs, decorated outside with lichen and placed on a small outside twig 2–7 m (6.6–23.0 ft) high in a small tree. The female alone incubates the two white eggs.

This hummingbird feeds at many types of flowers, including epiphytes and Heliconias, and both sexes are aggressive and territorial, defending favoured areas.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Amazilia saucerrottei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. McGuire, J.; Witt, C.; Remsen, J.V.; Corl, A.; Rabosky, D.; Altshuler, D.; Dudley, R. (2014). "Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds". Current Biology. 24 (8): 910–916. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016.
  3. Stiles, F.G.; Remsen, J.V. Jr.; Mcguire, J.A. (2017). "The generic classification of the Trochilini (Aves: Trochilidae): Reconciling taxonomy with phylogeny". Zootaxa. 4353 (3): 401–424. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4353.3.
  4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  • Stiles, F. Gary; Skutch, Alexander F. (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Comstock Publishing Associates. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.