Little Sunangel
Heliangelus micraster
Unmistakable; the only hummingbird within its limited range that has an orange throat patch. Otherwise dark emerald-green overall with a rather short, straight bill. Males and females are similar, but females have a smaller throat patch and a dingier grayish belly. Occurs on the east slope of the Andes from southern Ecuador to northern Peru from around 2,400 to 3,100 m. Visits feeders, but also can be found in the middle levels of temperate forest and edges.
Identification
The flame-throated sunangel is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long and weighs 3.6 to 4.1 g (0.13 to 0.14 oz). Its straight bill is blackish. Both sexes have dark metallic green upperparts. Their lower breasts are dark metallic green, their bellies grayish, and their vent areas almost white. Their tails are dark steel blue. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a glittering blue-green frontlet just above the bill, a dark purplish blue chin, and an iridescent yellow-orange gorget with a glittering emerald green border. Adult females lack the blue-green frontlet, their chin is blackish, and their throat is white with green to dusky gray speckles and sometimes a few iridescent reddish orange discs. Juveniles are like the adult female but the male does not have the blackish chin. Males of subspecies H. m. cutervensis have a reddish orange gorget.
Taxonomy
The flame-throated sunangel has been considered conspecific with the gorgeted sunangel (H. exortis). It has two subspecies, the nominate H. m. micraster and H. m. cutervensis.
- Scientific name
- Heliangelus micraster
- Authority
- Gould, 1872
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Heliangelus
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of flame-throated sunangel is found on the eastern slope of the Andes from Ecuador's Morona-Santiago Province into northern Peru. H. m. cutervensis is found in Peru's Department of Cajamarca. The species inhabits the interior and borders of dense mossy forest. In elevation it mostly ranges between 2,300 and 3,400 m (7,500 and 11,200 ft) but has been recorded as low as 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The flame-throated sunangel is mostly sedentary but disperses altitundinally after the nesting season.<p>The flame-throated sunangel defends foraging areas. It mostly feeds on nectar, usually at flowers at low to medium heights above the ground, within the forest and on its borders. Females often venture further into bushy pastures. It usually clings to flowers to feed rather than hovering at them. It also captures insects by hawking from a perch and by gleaning from vegetation.<p>The flame-throated sunangel's breeding season spans from January to May in Ecuador but has not been defined in Peru. The clutch of two white eggs is incubated by the female. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding phenology.<p>The flame-throated sunangel's call is "a repeated dry 'djit' or more gravelly 'drrt'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Spot-throated Babbler
Pellorneum albiventre
Shy, skulky, frustratingly difficult to see, and not much to look at if seen well. A species of foothill and submontane open forest and forest edge, usually tucked well away in dense, tangled undergrowth. Brown overall with a pale, faintly streaked throat. East Indian subspecies has a white belly, while others are unmarked brown all over. Very similar to Buff-breasted Babbler, which has a clean, unstriped pale throat and is more slender in its build. Spot-throated’s song is musical and variable, usually incorporating clear whistles, lower chirrs and chatters, and imitations of other species. Calls are usually composed of low chattering or clicking notes.
Black-crowned White-eye
Zosterops atrifrons
A small green songbird with a bold white eye-ring, a black forehead, and whitish underparts except for a yellow throat and undertail. Juveniles duller, with less black on forehead. Found in groups, often within mixed-species flocks, in forests, edges, and cultivated areas in lowlands and foothills. Separated from Lemon-bellied White-eye by whitish belly, and from Warbling and Sulawesi White-eyes by black forehead on Black-crowned White-eye. Song variable, comprising short, high-pitched warbles. Also gives chattering and twittering notes as well as “tzew” and repetitive “titititititit” trill calls.
Friendly Bush Warbler
Locustella accentor
Though frequently derided for the reputed inaccuracy of its name, this mouse-like bird can prove quite confiding. It is, however, generally quite difficult to see in dense undergrowth; best detected by its song, a series of three piercing whistles, the last of which is long and grating. If seen, note dark brown plumage, speckled gray throat and chest, and long broad tail. Found on only a handful of forested mountaintops in Borneo’s Crocker Range, where it skulks about in tangled mossy areas with extensive fallen debris.
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