Purple-crowned Fairy
Heliothryx barroti
Flashy, rather large hummingbird of humid tropical lowlands. Favors forest edges, adjacent clearings with scattered trees and flowering bushes, and gardens. Feeds at all levels, but often in the canopy, hovering with its tail cocked and frequently flashed open to show extensive white. Note the gleaming snow-white underparts, brilliant emerald-green upperparts, and flashy white outer tail feathers. Bill is medium-length, black, and sharply pointed (often pierces flower bases to get nectar). Sexes similar overall, but female lacks purple crown of male, which can be hard to see, and has a longer tail.
Identification
The purple-crowned fairy is 9 to 13 cm (3.5 to 5.1 in) long and weighs about 5.5 g (0.19 oz). It is slender and has bright emerald green upperparts, pure white underparts, and a long pointed tail which has blue-black central and white outer feathers. It has a black patch through the eye and the bill is short, straight, and black. The male has a metallic violet forecrown; the eye patch has a metallic violet spot behind it and bright emerald green below it. The female has a green crown and the face has less black, no violet spot, and no green below the black. Immatures have cinnamon fringes on their upperpart's plumage and the throat and breast have sparse dusky spots.
Taxonomy
The purple-crowned fairy was originally described as Trochilus Barroti. It and the black-eared fairy (Heliothryx auritus) were treated as conspecific by some authors but are now considered to be a superspecies; they are the only members of the genus. Its scientific name commemorates Adolphe Barrot (1801–1870), a French diplomat who served in Colombia from 1831 to 1835. <p>The purple-crowned fairy is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Heliothryx barroti
- Authority
- (Bourcier, 1843)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Heliothryx
Range and habitat
The purple-crowned fairy is found from eastern Chiapas and southern Tabasco in Mexico through the Caribbean slopes of Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua; both slopes of Costa Rica; much of Panama; and the Pacific slopes of Colombia, Ecuador, and far northern Peru. In Colombia it also occurs east into the lower valley of the Magdalena River. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Mexico and northern Central America, to 1,675 m (5,500 ft) in Costa Rica, to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Colombia, and to 800 m (2,600 ft) in Ecuador. It inhabits the canopy and edges of humid lowland forest, shady plantations, and mature secondary forest.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds

Terek Sandpiper
Xenus cinereus
Unique smallish wader with stumpy bright orange legs and a noticeably upturned bill. Plumage gray overall with white belly, but in flight shows conspicuous white trailing edge to wings. Breeds in valley floodplains in tundra and taiga. In the non-breeding season, occurs singly or in flocks in varied wetland habitats, from fresh marshes to tidal mudflats, and often apart from other shorebirds. Feeds by dashing after insects and also by probing bill in mud, like a mini-godwit.

Dayak Blue Flycatcher
Cyornis montanus
A medium-sized flycatcher with strikingly different male and female plumages. Male is beautifully colored, with deep blue upperparts, mostly orange underparts, and a white belly. Female is much duller, with a grayish head, gray-brown wings, a rufous tail, and rufous underparts. Scarce and local in the understory of hill forest. Song is jumble of melodious warbling and whistling notes. The calls are loud “chek” or “sit” notes, and are often mixed into the song. Similar to Bornean Blue Flycatcher, but darker, especially on the belly (in both sexes) and back (in the male). Also similar to Sunda Blue Flycatcher, but darker overall and shorter-billed. Dayak Blue Flycatcher is further distinguished by the less extensive black chin patch of the male and the rufous rather than blue tail of the female.

Short-bearded Honeyeater
Melionyx nouhuysi
A long, slender honeyeater of subalpine forest and shrubland in western New Guinea. All sooty gray-black plumage with a long tail and a fairly long, curved bill, 2 white tufts emanating from the base of the bill, and a yellow-orange wattle at the back of the eye. Sometimes some white scaling on the belly. Often seen perching on top of bushes. Similar to Sooty Melidectes, but Short-bearded Melidectes is larger and has a white beard. Gives a long, dry chatter.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.