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
- Caprimulgiformes
- 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
The turquoise-crowned hummingbird is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The diet of the turquoise-crowned hummingbird is not separately described from that of the broad-billed hummingbird. In general, and like most hummingbirds, that species feeds on a wide variety of flowering plants and also small arthropods. The turquoise-crowned hummingbird is described as trap-lining for nectar in gallery forest.<p>The turquoise-crowned hummingbird appears to nest throughout the year; its peak season is unknown. Other information on its breeding phenology is not separated in the Birds of the World account.<p>The turquoise-crowned hummingbird's vocalizations have not been separately described from those of the broad-billed hummingbird. That species' song, sung only by males, "[b]egins with short chip note, then a series of similar notes ranging in frequency from 2 to 13 kHz."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Short-tailed Lark
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An unusual and distinctive lark with a large bill and a short tail. Note the black “tear” mark below the eye. Plumage varies geographically; this lark is sandy brown in the northern part of the range and dark brown in the south. Found in dry, short grassland, usually within savanna environments, generally in small flocks. Somewhat similar to Thekla Lark, but has a larger bill and a shorter tail, and lacks a crest. The song includes short series of well-spaced slurred whistles. The typical call is a nasal whistle.
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