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
The purple-crowned fairy is resident throughout its range.<p>The purple-crowned fairy mostly forages in the mid-story and canopy, though at forest edges it will forage lower. It takes nectar from a variety of flowering plants, both by inserting its bill into the corolla and by piercing the base of the flower to "rob" nectar. It also feeds on small arthropods (favoring spiders) by hovering and gleaning from foliage. It does not take insects on the wing like many other hummingbirds. Although it is not particularly territorial, this species is quite aggressive, and will resist the attacks of territorial hummingbird species.<p>The purple-crowned fairy usually breeds between October and March in Costa Rica; its breeding seasons elsewhere have not been documented. The female alone builds the nest, incubates the eggs, and cares for the young. It makes a small conical cup nest of plant down without the attached lichens of many other hummingbird nests. It places the nest near the tip of a thin branch, usually between 6 and 20 m (20 and 66 ft) above the ground and often over water. The clutch size is two eggs. The incubation time is 16 to 17 days with fledging 20 to 24 days after hatch.<p>The purple-crowned fairly is not highly vocal. It does make a call that has been described as "a high, thin, slightly metallic sssit, which may be run into longer rapid series."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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