White-throated Hummingbird
Leucochloris albicollis
Very distinctive humminbird; both sexes have mossy green bodies and bold white throats and bellies. The bill is bicolored with a red lower mandible. Found in a variety of habitats such as forest edge, plantations, and gardens, mostly in the lowlands. Often visits feeders. Call is an irregular dry “chip.”
Identification
The white-throated hummingbird is 10 to 11.5 cm (3.9 to 4.5 in) long. Males weigh 5 to 8 g (0.18 to 0.28 oz) and females about 4.5 g (0.16 oz). Adults have a medium length, straight, bill with a blackish maxilla and red mandible with a black tip. Adult males have golden- to bronze-green upperparts. Their uppertail coverts and inner tail feathers are golden-green to brilliant green and the outer tail feathers blackish green with white bands near the end. Their chin feathers are brilliant green with white edges, their throat white, and their cheeks and breast brilliant green to golden-green. The center of their belly is white with golden- to bronze-green sides and flanks. Their undertail coverts are white with some bronze-green to brownish inclusions. Adult females are very similar but duller, less glittery, overall. Juveniles have grayish brown underparts with less white and brownish tips to the tail feathers.
Taxonomy
French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot described the white-throated hummingbird in 1818 as Trochilus albicollis. Its species name is derived from the Latin words albus "white" and collum "neck". Ludwig Reichenbach erected the genus Leucochloris in 1854, deriving the name from the Ancient Greek leukos "white" and chloros "green".<p>The white-throated hummingbird is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies.
- Scientific name
- Leucochloris albicollis
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1818)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Leucochloris
Range and habitat
The white-throated hummingbird is found in eastern Paraguay, southeastern Brazil from Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo south, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina. It inhabits semi-open to open landscapes such as the edges of mature forest, marshes, scrublands, parks, and gardens. In elevation it is generally found from near sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) but there are occasional records higher with one at 2,100 m (6,900 ft).
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The white-throated hummingbird is mostly sedentary but some local dispersal has been noted.<p>The white-throated hummingbird forages for nectar at a very wide variety of native and introduced plants. Species from at least 10 families have been documented as sources. Bromeliaceae seem especially favored; examples include Quesnelia testudo and Tillandsia aeranthos. It is known to pollinate Siphocampylus sulfureus. In addition to nectar it feeds on insects captured by hawking from a perch.<p>The white-throated hummingbird's breeding season spans from October to March. It makes a cup nest of plant down and moss bound with spiderweb with lichen on the outside. It is typically placed on a horizontal branch of a shrub or small tree. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for about 14 days and fledging occurs 20 to 25 days after hatch.<p>The white-throated hummingbird's song is "a series of 4–10 high-pitched, buzzy notes, with emphasis on the first, 'bzeeeee-bzee-bzee-bzee-bzee'." It also makes calls described as "dry chips and a high-pitched descending metallic rattle."
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
One-colored Becard
Pachyramphus homochrous
Medium-sized flycatcher-like bird found in lowlands and foothills from Venezuela to Peru. Male dark blackish above and gray below. Female is rusty overall, but paler buffy on the belly. Note gray lores on the female to help separate them from other rusty-colored becards. Singles or pairs can be found in middle to upper levels of forest or open woodlands.
White-crowned Wheatear
Oenanthe leucopyga
Large and powerful for a wheatear with glossy black plumage; found in rocky deserts. Only adults have a white cap. Sexes similar. In all plumages lacks a black terminal tail band; its mostly white tail separates it from other similar black wheatears. Inhabits rocky slopes and steep desert wadis. Feeds on arthropods. The male sings a clear series of whistles and trills; often given during a display flight.
Caracas Tapaculo
Scytalopus caracae
A typical tapaculo, in bad light a plain and dark small bird with short tail. In good view, mostly plain dark gray with brown and slightly barred belly. Female more barred than male, and juvenile mostly brown and markedly barred. Acts like a mouse, staying near the ground in dense understory of bamboo thickets in cloud forest. Song nasal and noisy, one of the signature sounds in the mountains near Caracas; one version a series of four notes “wu-E-e-wu” and the another a faster series of 6 notes “wu-wU-e-e-wu-wu”; varied calls, the most common a descending mechanical rattle. The only tapaculo in its limited range in the Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela.
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