Green-crowned brilliant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Green-crowned brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant JCB.jpg
Male
Green-crowned brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula henryi) female.jpg
Female
Both in Mount Totumas cloud forest, Panama

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Heliodoxa
Species:
H. jacula
Binomial name
Heliodoxa jacula
(Gould, 1850)
Heliodoxa jacula map.svg
Range of H. jacula

The green-crowned brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula) is a large, robust hummingbird that is a resident breeder in the highlands from Costa Rica to western Ecuador. It is also known as the green-fronted brilliant.[2]

Description[]

The male green-crowned brilliant is 13 cm (5.1 in) long and weighs 9.5 g (0.34 oz). It is mainly bronze-green with a glittering green crown, forehead, throat and breast. It has a white spot behind the eye, a small violet-blue throat patch, white thighs, and a deeply forked blue-black tail.[3]

The female is 12 cm (4.7 in) long and weighs 8 g (0.28 oz). She differs from the male in that she has green-spotted white underparts, a white spot behind the eye and a white stripe below the eye, and a white-cornered shallowly-forked black tail. Young birds resemble the adult of the same sex, but are duller, bronze-tinged below and have buff throats.[3]

The green-crowned brilliant has a loud squeaky kyew call.[3]

Distribution and habitat[]

This hummingbird inhabits wet mountain forests including edges, gaps and tall second growth. It occurs typically between 700 and 2,000 m (2,300 and 6,600 ft) in altitude, mainly on the Caribbean or (in South America) eastern slopes.[2][3]

The nest is a bulky cup of plant fibres and scales of tree ferns saddled on a thin down-sloping branch. The female alone incubates the two white 16.5 by 11 mm (0.65 by 0.43 in) eggs.[4][2]

Behavior and ecology[]

This hummingbird feeds at the large inflorescences of Marcgravia vines, which the male will sometimes defend. It will also feed at Heliconia and other large flowers. Unlike many hummingbirds, the green-crowned brilliant almost always perches to feed.[3]

  • Composite showing effect of light reflection on colour of male's gorge, Mount Totumas cloud forest, Panama

  • Juvenile

References[]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Heliodoxa jacula". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Stiles, F.G. (2013) [1999]. del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Green-fronted Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula)". Birds of the World Alive. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e Stiles, F. Gary; Skutch, Alexander F. (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Comstock Publishing Associates. p. 227. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4.
  4. ^ Sánchez, Julio E.; Mulvihill, Robert S.; Master, Terry L. (2000). "First description of the nest and eggs of the Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula), with behavioral notes" (PDF). Ornitologia Neotropical. Sociedad de Ornitología Neotropical. 11 (3): 189–196.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""