Longuemare's Sunangel
Heliangelus clarisse
Medium-sized cloud forest hummingbird found in the eastern Andes and Perijá mountains of Colombia as well as adjacent border regions of Venezuela. Male has a glittering violet or purple throat bordered below by a narrow white crescent. Female’s throat is mottled green and brown and lacks iridescence. Some males mostly lack the white throat crescent and can look very similar to Tourmaline Sunangel, which overlaps in the eastern Andes of Colombia, but Longuemare’s has a slight buffy tinge to his belly. Differs from Orange-throated Sunangel by throat color and white (not buff) neck band. Usually seen foraging in clearings or at forest edge, and visits feeders in some areas. Formerly considered a subspecies of Amethyst-throated Sunangel.
Identification
Longuemare's sunangel is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 5.0 to 6.0 g (0.18 to 0.21 oz). It has a short (less than 2 cm (0.79 in)), straight, blackish bill. The adult male of the nominate H. c. clarisse has a narrow glittering blue-green frontlet just above the bill, a dusky crown, and dark bronzy green upperparts. Its throat and upper breast gorget is glittering rosy and has a white pectoral band below it. The rest of the underparts are dusky buff with round green spots. The inner tail feathers are dark bronzy green and the outer ones blackish and occasionally have pale tips. The female has dull brown throat feathers with rufous or bronze green inclusions. Its belly has less spotting than the male's. Juveniles are plumaged like the adult female.<p>The male H. c. violiceps has a strongly blue frontlet and a purple gorget. The female's frontlet is dull; its dull brown throat patch is smaller than that of the nominate and a band of dark green separates it from the white pectoral band. The male H. c. verdiscutus has an emerald green frontlet, a deep bronzy purple crown, and a dark line along the upper edge of the gorget. The female has the same dark line and a smaller gorget than the nominate's with a dark green border.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of Longuemare's sunangel is not settled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the Clements taxonomy, and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treat it as a species and assign two subspecies to it, the nominate H. c. clarisse and H. c. violiceps. The South American Classification Committee (SACC) of the American Ornithological Society treats them as subspecies of the amethyst-throated sunangel (H. amethysticollis). The IOC and HBW also recognize H. c. verdiscutus as a subspecies, while Clements doesn't.
- Scientific name
- Heliangelus clarisse
- Authority
- (Longuemare, 1841)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Heliangelus
Range and habitat
The nominate Longuemare's sunangel H. c. clarisse is found in Colombia's Eastern Andes and adjacent western Venezuela. H. c. violiceps is found further north, in Serranía del Perijá that defines the Colombia-Venezuela border. H. c. verdiscutus is restricted to the Tamá Massif, an extension of Colombia's eastern Andes on the border with Venezuela.<p>Longuemare's sunangel primarily inhabits the edges of humid cloudforest and elfin forest. It can also be found in more open landscapes including fields with scattered bushes and trees, open woodland, overgrown ravines, and páramo. In elevation it ranges from 1,800 to 3,600 m (5,900 to 11,800 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Longuemares' sunangel is sedentary.<p>Longuemare's sunangel feeds on nectar and also includes insects in its diet. It defends feeding territories that are dense with nectar sources. It typically feeds at heights up to 6 m (20 ft), often along streams. It captures insects by hawking from a perch.<p>The breeding season of Longuemare's sunangel extends at least from May to August. Its nest of moss and fine plant material is usually hung below a leaf or other structure that provides shelter from the weather. The clutch of two eggs is incubated by the female. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.<p>Longuemare's sunangel's call is "a repeated dry, upward-inflected 'tsik' or 'tsit'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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