Blue-headed Parrot

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Blue-headed Parrot
Blue-headed Parrot

Blue-headed Parrot

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Sailor birds (Apodiformes)
Family : Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)
Genre : Amazilia hummingbirds ( Amazilia )
Type : Blue-headed Parrot
Scientific name
Amazilia cyanocephala
( Lesson, RP , 1830)

The blue-headed parrot ( Amazilia cyanocephala ) or elliotamazilie is a species of bird from the hummingbird family (Trochilidae). The range of this species includes parts of Mexico , Guatemala , Belize , Honduras , El Salvador and Nicaragua . The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .

features

The blue-headed parrot reaches a body length of about 10 to 11 cm with a weight of the males of 5.8 g and the females of 5.2 g. In contrast to the very similar violet-headed amazily, it has a blackish upper bill and a reddish lower bill with a black tip. The straight beak of the males is medium in size. The top of the head glitters from turquoise to blue-violet. The back, the rump and the flanks are gold to bronze green. The center of the bottom is white. The bronze-green under tail-coverts have white fringes. The tail is greyish green. The turquoise reflections on the upper head and neck of the females are more striking than on the males. In juveniles , the feathers on the upper side are spotted reddish brown. There is less white coloring on the underside and the belly is more grayish brown. In male juveniles, the upper head color is similar to that of the females.

Behavior and nutrition

They get their nectar mainly from blooming epiphytes . But also the species Hamelia patens and Palicourea padifolia belonging to the red family and other species can serve as sources of nectar. They float in front of the flowers. They get their food from practically all strata , but for this they mainly move 4 to 6 meters above the ground. In gallery forests , they usually collect on vegetation near the shore. Occasionally they gather in groups on the flowers of Inga trees. They hunt insects in flight.

Vocalizations

It is believed that the singing of the blue-headed parrot sounds like a gentle series of powerful chilplaute that turns into a warbling and rattling sound. In flight and when sitting, they give off a rather hard and lively dssrt tone, which they repeat over and over again.

distribution and habitat

Distribution area of ​​the blue-headed parrot

The blue-headed parrot lives in pine and oak forests , in cloud and rainforests , as well as on the edges of moist forests. They can also be found in gallery forests, savannahs , in undergrowth or in disused fields and gardens. Both subspecies live at different altitudes. A. c. cyanocephala mostly occurs at altitudes between 500 and 1800 meters, occasionally even up to 2400 meters, very rarely also up to sea level. A. c. chlorostephana is on the move at altitudes below 100 meters, as they like to move in pine savannas with Pinus caribaea . In addition, the subspecies likes pines near gallery forests or on the edges of isolated evergreen rainforest.

Reproduction

The breeding season of the blue-headed parrot varies by region. The breeding season in Mexico is from February to August, in Belize from January to July, and in Guatemala, according to data on nest building and gonadal activities, from July to September. There are reports of breeding from Nicaragua from February. The goblet-like nest has a height of 30 to 51 cm, an outer radius of 38 to 51 mm × 45 to 52 mm. In construction, they use plant fibers from mimosa and the scales of tree ferns such as Alsophila firma , Cyathea bicrenata or Cyathea affinis fulva . They decorate the outside with liverworts , some other mosses and lichens. The inner layer is covered with the stems of liverworts and with seeds of the Tillandsia species Tillandsia deppeana and horsetail on the ground. They place the nest on a horizontal branch or forks of branches up to 15 meters above the ground, but mostly at heights of 1.5 and 3 meters. There have been observations of nests in bougainvillea scrub, in heliconia fruit stands, on palm trees of the genus Acrocomia , in bamboo of the genus Phyllostachys , and on an oak. A nest was even discovered on city telephone wires. The nests are built exclusively by females over a period of 8 to 10 days, but expansion continues during the breeding season. The clutch consists of two white eggs. These are laid on different days. An egg is 13 to 14.2 by 7 to 9.2 mm in size. The breeding season is about 15 days and is carried out by the female. The second egg that is laid hatches almost at the same time as the first.

Subspecies

There are two known subspecies:

  • Amazilia cyanocephala cyanocephala ( Lesson, RP , 1830) occurs in southeastern Mexico through eastern Honduras and north-central Nicaragua.
  • Amazilia cyanocephala chlorostephana Howell, TR , 1965 is common in northeastern Honduras and northeastern Nicaragua. The subspecies has a metallic green to turquoise green skull. Females rarely have such a pronounced turquoise color as in the nominate form . The dimensions of the subspecies are significantly smaller than the nominate form.

In Cyanomyia Guatemalensis Gould , 1861, based on Cyanomyia cyanocephala Salvin & Sclater, PL , 1860 is synonymous with the nominate form . However, a recent study shows genetic differences in the mtDNA . Cyanomyia microrhyncha Elliot, DG , 1876, sees Allan Robert Phillips as a synonym for Amazilia cyanocephala guatemalensis .

The lectotype of Trochilus verticalis Deppe, W , 1830 is also the blue-headed parrot.

migration

Some populations e.g. B. in Veracruz and San Luis Potosí the blue-headed parrot are considered a resident bird , while others are on the move as migratory birds. Greater numbers of winter birds migrate to the Pacific coast of Oaxaca and Chiapas or the lowlands of the Atlantic coast of Guatemala and Honduras. Hikers can also reach the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula . As a line bird , they prefer higher elevations during the breeding season and migrate down when the breeding season is over.

Etymology and history of research

René Primevère Lesson originally described the blue-headed parrot under the name Ornismya cyanocephalus . The type specimen came from the collection of Florent Prévost . He erroneously stated Brazil as the collection point. In 1843 Lesson introduced the new generic name Amazilia for the gold - masked hummingbird , the striped - tailed hummingbird , the cinnamon-bellied hummingbird (syn .: Ornysmia cinnamomea ), the blue-throated star hummingbird (syn .: Ornymia rufula ) and the longuemare sun nymph . He did not mention the rust-bellied amazilia ( Amazilia amazilia ). This name comes from a novel by Jean-François Marmontel , who reported in Les Incas, Ou La Destruction De L'empire Du Pérou, about an Inca heroine named Amazili. Only later was the blue-headed parrot added to the genus. The species name is a word structure from the Greek "cyanos κυανος " for "dark blue" and "-cephalos, cephalē -κεφαλος, κεφαλη " for "-headed, head". Chlorostephana is made up of the Greek words "chlōros χλωρος " for "green" and "stephanos στεφανος " for "crown, wreath".

Guatemalensis refers to Guatemala. The country name is derived from the Nahuatl word »Cuauhtēmallān« for »place with many trees«. Microrhyncha is composed of "micros μικρος " for "small" and "rhynkhos ῥυγχος " for "beak". Presumably the name Elliotamazilie can be traced back to this potential subspecies, as it was described by Daniel Giraud Elliot. Verticalis is the Latin word for "crowned" and can be derived from "vertex, verticis" for "crown on the head".

literature

  • André-Alexander Weller , Guy Maxwell Kirwan in: Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, Jordi Sargatal, David Andrew Christie , Eduardo de Juana: Azure-crowned Hummingbird (Amazilia cyanocephala). In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive . Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
  • James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
  • René Primevère Lesson , Prosper Garnot: Voyage autour du monde exécuté par Ordre du Roi, sur la Corvette de Sa Majesté, La Coquille pendant les années 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825, sous le ministère et conformément aux instructions de SEM Marquis de Clermont- Tonnerre, ministre de la marine; et publié sou les auspices de son excellence Mgr le Cte ​​de Chabrol, ministre de la Marine et des colonies, par ML Dupppery, capitaine de frégate. chevalier de Saint-Louis et membre de la legion d'honaire, commandant de l'expédition (=  zoology . Volume 1 , no. 2 ). Arthus-Bertrand, Paris 1828 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • René Primevère Lesson: Histoire naturelle des oiseaux-mouches, ouvrage orné de planches desinées et gravée par les meilleurs artistes et dédié A SAR Mademoiselle 81 plates (Prêtre, Antoine Germaine Bévalet, Marie Clémence Lesson based on Louis Vieillot's Charles Vieillot, Antoine William Pierre William Vieillot , Pancrace Bessa , Elisa Zoé Dumont de Sainte Croix) . Arthus-Bertrand, Paris 1830 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • René Primevère Lesson: Complément à l'histoire naturelle des oiseaux-mouches . In: L'Echo du Monde Savant (=  2 ). tape 10 , no. 32 , 1843, pp. 755-758 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Thomas Raymond Howell: New Subspecies of Birds from the Lowland Pine Savanna of Northeastern Nicaragua . In: The Auk . tape 82 , no. 3 , 1965, p. 438–464 ( online [PDF; 1.5 MB ]).
  • John Gould: An introduction to the Trochilidæ: or family of humming-birds . Taylor and Francis, London 1861 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Osbert Salvin, Philip Lutley Sclater: Contribution to the Ornithology of Guatemala . In: Ibis . tape 2 , no. 5 , 1860, p. 28-45 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Christiane Quaisser, André-Alexander Weller: Taxonomic identity of Trochilus verticalis W. Deppe, 1830 . In: Zoologische Mededelingen . tape 79 , no. 3 , 2005, p. 147–155 ( repository.naturalis.nl [PDF; 232 kB ]).
  • Edward Clive Dickinson, Leslie K. Overstreet, Robert Jack Dowsett, Murray Duncan Bruce: Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology . Aves Press Limited, Northampton 2012, ISBN 978-0-9568611-1-5 .
  • Allan Robert Phillips: What is Amazilia microrhyncha? In: The Auk . tape 88 , no. 3 , 1971, p. 679 ( online [PDF; 62 kB ]).
  • Daniel Giraud Elliot: Notes on the Trochilidae. The Genera Cyanomyia and Heliotrypha . In: Ibis (=  3 ). tape 6 , no. 23 , 1876, p. 311-319 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Flor Rodríguez ‐ Gómez, Carla Gutiérrez ‐ Rodríguez, Juan Francisco Ornelas: Genetic, phenotypic and ecological divergence with gene flow at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: the case of the Azure-crowned Hummingbird (Amazilia cyanocephala) . In: Journal of Biogeography . tape 40 , no. 7 , 2013, p. 1360-1373 , doi : 10.1111 / jbi.12093 .

Web links

Commons : Blue-headed Parrot ( Amazilia cyanocephala )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g André-Alexander Weller u. a.
  2. ^ IOC World Bird List Hummingbirds
  3. ↑ a b René Primevère Lesson (1830), p. Xlv.
  4. ^ Thomas Raymond Howell, p. 449.
  5. ^ A b John Gould, pp. 148f.
  6. ↑ Osbert Salvin et al. a., 39
  7. ↑ Flor Rodríguez-Gómez et al. a., pp. 1360-1373.
  8. ^ Daniel Giraud Elliot, p. 316.
  9. ^ Allan Robert Phillips, p. 679.
  10. ↑ Christiane Quaisser u. a., 290
  11. ↑ René Primevère Lesson u. a. (1843), column 757.
  12. ↑ René Primevère Lesson u. a. (1827), p. 683 (plate 3).
  13. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 126.
  14. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 103.
  15. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 254.
  16. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 400.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Christiane Quaisser and André-Alexander Weller chose the lectotype in terms of a stable nomenclature . Thus, the names of the violet-headed amazily ( Amazilia violiceps ( Gould , 1859)) and the gray broad-billed hummingbird ( Cynanthus sordidus ( Gould , 1859)) could be retained. It should be noted, however, that according to Edward Clive Dickinson et al. a. P. 117 the name of the blue-headed parrot was published with delivery 12 or 13 from 1830, while Quaisser & Weller give the year 1829 as the year of publication. Wilhelm Deppe's price index was also published in 1830.