Racket-tipped Thorntail
Discosura longicaudus
Tiny hummingbird. Male mostly green with contrasting white belly; female green above and whitish below, speckled with green on throat and breast. Both sexes show buffy rump band. Males usually appear dark but are easily identified by small size and long, modified outer tail feathers; females told from other coquettes in range by speckled throat without buff tones. Rarely encountered. Found around flowering trees in rainforest and perhaps most readily seen along rivers. Local populations may fluctuate in abundance from one season to another. Like other coquettes, has fast, weaving flight reminiscent of a large insect, which may help it evade detection by larger hummingbirds whose territories it infiltrates to feed on nectar.
Identification
The species weighs about 3.4 grams (0.12 oz) and is sexually dimorphic. The male is around 10.2 centimetres (4.0 in) long and has a distinctive brilliant green head and throat with a copper-coloured abdomen. The dark purple-brown tail is 5.1 centimetres (2.0 in) long, and forked, with two very long prongs, ending with a pair of round paddle- ("racket") shaped feathers. The female is shorter with a length of 6.9 centimetres (2.7 in). It has duller green upperparts and breast, black throat bordered by white and a white belly. Its tail is grey tipped with white, and lacks "rackets".
Taxonomy
The racket-tailed coquette was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus and coined the binomial name Trochilus longicaudus. Gmelin based his description on the "L'oiseau-mouche à raquettes" that had been described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. Buffon did not specify the origin of his specimen but in 1902 Hans von Berlepsch and Ernst Hartert designated the type locality as Cayenne, French Guiana. The racket-tailed coquette is now placed with four other hummingbirds in the genus Discosura that was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Formerly, ornithologists erroneously used the binomial name Discosura longicauda instead of Discosura longicaudus. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek diskos meaning "plate" with oura meaning "tail". The specific epithet longicaudus combines the Latin longus meaning "long" and cauda meaning "tail". The species is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<p>It is sometimes considered to be the only member of the genus Discosura, as the thorntails, the other possible members of the genus, are often placed in the genus Popelairia.<p>Martin Johnson Heade depicted two coquettes in his painting Two Green-Breasted Hummingbirds (c. 1863), as part of his "Gems of Brazil".
- Scientific name
- Discosura longicaudus
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Discosura
Range and habitat
The racket-tailed coquette generally is uncommon but it has a large distribution that is separated into two distinct parts: The largest is in the Guiana Shield of northern Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and southern Venezuela. The other is in a strip along coastal eastern Brazil. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests, as well as riparian forests.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Racket-tailed coquettes typically gather in the canopy of hapaxanth trees with other hummingbirds and steal other larger hummingbirds' nectar. They are consequently chased by the larger birds.<p>They build their cup-sized nests out of soft plants and down 3–6 metres (9.8–19.7 ft) up a tree. Females usually have a clutch of two eggs, which are incubated for 13–14 days.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Carruthers's Cisticola
Cisticola carruthersi
Relatively colorful, mid-sized, long-tailed cisticola. Note the gray-brown back with thick black streaks, rufous on the wing and cap, and whitish underparts. Found mainly in papyrus swamp and locally in other wetland habitats. Song is a quick, aggressive series of several “chyap” notes. Very similar to Winding Cisticola, and best separated by song; Carruther’s also has a less reddish panel in the wing and a mostly dark tail.
Variable Chachalaca
Ortalis motmot
Slender, long-tailed, chickenlike bird that is often seen in small groups. Grayish-brown overall with a warmer chestnut head. At close range note the bare red throat patch and pinkish legs. Found in second-growth woodlands, river edges, and disturbed habitats including farms and villages. Occurs in lowlands of northern South America, north of the Amazon river. Somewhat similar to Spix’s and Marail Guans, but Variable Chachalaca is much smaller and is unlikely to be in canopy of tall forest. Usually quiet, but groups call loudly to each other early in the morning; unmistakable call can be heard for more than a kilometer.
Hunter's Cisticola
Cisticola hunteri
A large, plain cisticola with a reddish cap and two bands across the tail tip, one pale and one dark. Found in open montane habitats with thick herbaceous undergrowth, including forest edge, grassland, and heath, almost always in pairs or small groups. As with other cisticolas, habitat and vocalizations are important to identification. Very similar to Chubb’s Cisticola, but in the small area of overlap, Hunter’s occurs at higher elevations, and is distinguished by the softly streaked back and different vocalizations. Fairly similar to Singing Cisticola, but lacks a rufous panel in the wings. The distinctive song is given in chorus: a frantic series of spitting notes that runs up and down the scale, accompanied by simpler “cher-wee” calls.
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