Slaty Flowerpiercer
Diglossa plumbea
Flowerpiercers have a unique upturned bill with a sharp hook at the tip; they use it to pierce the bases of flowers to extract nectar. The bill shape alone is enough to identify Slaty Flowerpiercer in its range; also note male’s uniform blue-gray plumage. Female is dull brown. Found in mountains above 1300m, usually in pairs foraging in bushes at the forest edge, shrubby second growth, and gardens.
识别特征
The slaty flowerpiercer (Diglossa plumbea) is a passerine bird endemic to the Talamancan montane forests. This is a common bird in mountain forest canopy and edges, and especially in sunlit clearings and areas with flowering shrubs, which can include gardens. The lower altitudinal limit of its breeding range increases from 1200 m in the north of Costa Rica to 1900 m in the southern mountains. It is found well above the timberline in páramo habitat. The large cup nest, built by the female, is made of coarse plant material and lined with fine fibres. It is placed 0.4 to 4 m up in a dense shrub, grass tussock or pine. The clutch is two brown-speckled pale blue eggs, which are incubated by the female alone for 12–14 days to hatching. The slaty flowerpiercer has an upturned bill with a hooked upper mandible and pointed lower mandible. It is 10 cm long and weighs 9 g. The adult male is blue-grey with a lead-grey throat and breast. The tail and wings are blackish with grey feather edges. The female is olive-brown above with a paler throat and breast shading to buff on the belly. Young birds are like the female but have two tawny wing bars and faintly streaked buff-yellow underparts. The slaty flowerpiercer has a thin tsip call. The male's song consists of a mixture of whistles, warbles and trilled notes, see-chew see-chew see-chew seer seer surrzeep, tsee tsew tsink tsink tsink. As its name implies, the slaty flowerpiercer pierces the base of the flowers of shrubs and epiphytes with its bill and extracts the nectar through the hole with a brush-like tongue. It also feeds on tiny insects taken from foliage or in flight. It is attacked by territorial hummingbirds defending their feeding areas, and then retreats to dense cover.
分类信息
Genus: Diglossa; Family: Thraupidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- 学名
- Diglossa plumbea
- 命名信息
- Cabanis, 1861
- 目
- Passeriformes
- 科
- Thraupidae
- 属
- Diglossa
分布与栖息地
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
Migration pattern: Resident species.
保护状况
Population trend: declining.
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
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Rare and mysterious species long known only from a 19th century specimen, but more recently seen by a lucky few in southern Amazonian Brazil. Seems to prefer the canopy of tall, humid forest. Mostly white with a slightly grayer back, and black cap and wings. Compared to other tityra species, note white tail, shorter and smaller bill, and lack of any bare facial skin. Taxonomic affinities are uncertain, and shape and behavior seem closer to some becards than other tityras. Voice unknown.
Noisy Scrub-bird
Atrichornis clamosus
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Black-winged Cuckooshrike
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An overall sooty-colored cuckooshrike with broad white tips to the tail feathers. Male is dark sooty-gray with a slaty sheen, slightly paler on rump. Underparts paler toward tail; wings black. Female is very similar to male, but paler in general, often weakly barred with dark and pale gray on underparts. Male has a black mask, while female has dark lores and a faint eyering. Juvenile is blackish-brown above and brownish-gray below, heavily scaled whitish all over, with broad white tips on wing feathers. Immature like female, but more strongly and extensively barred below. Song is a loud series of whistles “pe-pe-pe-peew-peew-pew”; sometimes the starting notes are skipped. Found in all types of woodlands, including broad-leaved forests, sometimes even near cultivation during non-breeding season.
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