Merida Flowerpiercer
Diglossa gloriosa
Small tanager-like bird with sharply hooked, slightly upturned bill. Black body and chestnut belly set off by blue-gray eyebrow and shoulder patch. Sexes similar. Usually alone or in pairs piercing flowers in bushes, gardens, forest edges, and paramo. At high elevations, above 2400 m. Very territorial. Song a series of tinkling notes. No similar flowerpiercers in range, but may be confused with Blue-backed Conebill, which is brighter and larger with a blue back and pointed bill. Endemic to the Andes of Venezuela.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Diglossa gloriosa
- Authority
- Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1871
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Diglossa
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Cape Starling
Lamprotornis nitens
A medium-sized iridescent blue-green glossy starling that lacks dark ear-patches and has greenish flanks and belly, giving it a more uniform appearance than the “blue-eared” starlings. Pairs and small groups occupy high-altitude grassland, Karoo, and savanna, including drier habitats than other glossy starlings. The species feeds on the ground and in trees on fruit and insects; often it scavenges from people. It gives a rolling “turrreaau” flight call and harsh “karrr” alarm notes. Similar “blue-eared” starlings differ from Cape Starling by being smaller and having blue-magenta flanks and belly that give them a less uniform appearance.
Chinchipe Spinetail
Synallaxis chinchipensis
Handsome spinetail restricted to the Marañon Valley in northwestern Peru. Note spotted breast sides, indistinct pale eyebrow, and chestnut wings and tail. Pairs stay fairly low in deciduous forest and scrub, often skulky and difficult to see. Listen for fast sputtering trills.
Golden Pheasant
Chrysolophus pictus
Shy and surprisingly difficult to find in mixed and conifer woodland, where it runs quickly from detected disturbance. Red-and-gold male stunning and unmistakable. Female differs from Common Pheasant in strongly barred plumage, dull pinkish (not gray) legs and feet and from Lady Amherst’s Pheasant in lighter barring, more orangeish coloration, and the lack of a bare patch of gray skin behind the eye. Native to China but introduced very locally in Britain and Hawaii; however, captive birds might escape anywhere.
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