Colibri féérique

Heliothryx barroti

Colibri voyant et plutôt grand des basses terres tropicales humides. Il privilégie les lisières de forêt, les clairières adjacentes avec des arbres dispersés et des buissons fleuris, ainsi que les jardins. Il se nourrit à tous les niveaux, mais souvent dans la canopée, faisant du vol stationnaire avec sa queue relevée et fréquemment déployée pour montrer une grande étendue de blanc. Remarquez les parties inférieures d'un blanc neigeux éclatant, les parties supérieures vert émeraude brillant et les rectrices externes blanches voyantes. Le bec est de longueur moyenne, noir et très pointu (il perce souvent la base des fleurs pour obtenir le nectar). Les sexes sont globalement similaires, mais la femelle n'a pas la calotte violette du mâle, qui peut être difficile à voir, et a une queue plus longue.

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.

Taxonomie

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.

Nom scientifique
Heliothryx barroti
Autorité
(Bourcier, 1843)
Ordre
Apodiformes
Famille
Trochilidés
Genre
Heliothryx

Répartition et 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
Espèce sédentaire

Comportement

Mode de migration: Espèce sédentaire.

Conservation

Tendance de la population: en déclin.

Tendance de la population
en déclin

Photos

Distribution

Chants d'Oiseaux

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