Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird
Cynanthus doubledayi
Brilliantly-colored hummingbird with dark tail and mostly red bill. Fairly common in thorn forest within its limited range. Endemic to Mexico, mainly along the Pacific coast from Guerrero to Oaxaca. Can appear all dark at a distance, but in the right light, male is mostly glistening cobalt blue. Females are less colorful than males, dusky grayish below with prominent pale stripe behind the eye. Similar to Dusky Hummingbird, which occurs on the other side of the Sierra Madre del Sur.
Identification
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World does not describe the turquoise-crowned hummingbird separately from the broad-billed hummingbird. The following is a Google translation of the original description's French:<p>"Male adult: straight beak, dilated at its base, white, and black at its extremity; round head; green cap, very brilliante has azure reflections; neck, scapular, back, cover caudal fin glossy dark green; throat, front and sides of the neck, ėpi-gastre covered with shiny bright blue scaly feathers, abdomen less blue and green on the sides; downy anal region White; slightly curved grey-black wings; cordate [notched] tail with wide and rounded rectrices, black-blue, the 4 middle ones ashy at their ends; bare black legs."<p>The Birds of the World account of the broad-billed hummingbird includes that the male turquoise-crowned hummingbird weighs about 2.4 g (0.085 oz).
Taxonomy
The International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the Clements taxonomy, and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World consider the turquoise-crowned hummingbird to be a species. The turquoise-crowned hummingbird is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Cynanthus doubledayi
- Authority
- (Bourcier, 1847)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Cynanthus
Range and habitat
The turquoise-crowned hummingbird is found in the southern Mexican states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. It inhabits a variety of landscapes including arid thorn, tropical deciduous, gallery, and secondary forests. It occasionally occurs in pine-oak woodlands and grassy slopes. In elevation it generally ranges from sea level to 2,200 m (7,200 ft) but occurs as high as 3,000 m (9,800 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
House Crow
Corvus splendens
A slender, blackish medium-sized crow with a long bill. The grayish nape and sides form a paler collar that contrasts with the glossy black body. Primarily a scavenger, feeding on leftover rubbish from humans. Found in a wide range of habitats mostly around human habitation. Their call is a loud and harsh “kaa kaa kaa.”
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Calidris pusilla
Small, grayish-brown sandpiper. Typically shows relatively short, blunt-tipped bill, but this varies across the breeding range: western populations are shortest-billed, eastern populations are longest, and females have longer bills than males! Also note blackish legs, although they can appear dull gray or greenish. In breeding plumage, fairly pale grayish brown, sometimes with brighter rusty cap and cheek. Nonbreeding is plain gray above and white below. Juveniles have attractive scaly pattern on upperparts, and variable coloration: usually grayish with some buffy areas, occasionally brighter rufous. Most similar to Western and Least Sandpipers. Western averages slightly larger and longer-billed, with brighter rufous on breeding adults and juveniles; nonbreeding birds paler but extremely similar to Semipalmated. Least Sandpiper is darker and browner. Breeds on high Arctic tundra. Migrates to South America for the winter; very rarely lingers in the U.S. past November, unlike Western Sandpiper. Usually found in flocks, sometimes in very large numbers. Prefers open mudflats, but also found in marshes and beaches.
Fatu Hiva Monarch
Pomarea whitneyi
A distinctive large glossy-black flycatcher with a pale bluish-ivory bill. Bushy feathers give an eyebrowed appearance. Dependent on native moist forest between 50 and 700 meters of elevation. Common call is said to be a “kik-kik-kik.”
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