Great violet-eared hummingbird

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Great violet-eared hummingbird
Great violet-eared hummingbird

Great violet-eared hummingbird

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Sailor birds (Apodiformes)
Family : Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)
Genre : Violet- eared hummingbirds ( Colibri )
Type : Great violet-eared hummingbird
Scientific name
Colibri coruscans
( Gould , 1846)

The great violet- eared hummingbird ( Colibri coruscans ), also known as the blue violet-eared or violet- eared hummingbird , is a species of bird in the hummingbird family (Trochilidae) found in Guyana , Brazil , Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru , Bolivia , Chile and Argentina . The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .

features

The great violet-eared hummingbird reaches a body length of about 13 to 14 cm with a weight of about 5.8 to 8.5 g for males and 6.0 to 7.5 g for females. The male has a slightly curved black bill. The top is metallic bluish green. The bluish purple ear tags are elongated and erectable. The chin is bluish purple, the rest of the underside green with a blue belly. The two-winged tail is metallic green with a steel blue subterminal band . A little-researched melanistic form exists, but with two in a hundred specimens it is very rare. Females are similar to males, but often have a white spot behind the eye and are slightly smaller. Adolescent young animals have no iridescent color and the feathers have yellow-brown fringes. According to a study by Martina Dubach, it has the lowest mean blood-air barrier thickness (0.183 µm) and the largest weight-specific respiratory surface of all birds (87 cm² / g).

Behavior and nutrition

The great violet-eared hummingbird gets its nectar from a variety of flowers such as As the genera Castilleja , Centropogon , Clusia , Echeveria , Elleanthus , coral trees , eucalyptus , Guzmania , Inga , sage , Siphocampylus and Puya . He hunts insects in the air. He looks for his food in the strata from the ground to the treetops. It acts very territorially on flowering trees and dominates other hummingbirds. If he moves in Páramo he seems to be less aggressive towards other hummingbird species.

Vocalizations

The song of the Great Violet Ear Hummingbird consists of a long series of monosyllabic metallic chilps that sound like dschit ... dschit ... dschit ... or tlik ... tlik ... tlik .. and at a frequency of about two tones per Second. Complex lieder, which he normally gives at the Flugbalz, is also part of his repertoire. This consists of a medley of table tops, squeak and gurgle sounds as well as short trills. Its sounds also consist of repeated dry, rattling drr ... drrr ... tones. He is considered to be an extremely fiery hummingbird.

Reproduction

The breeding season of the great violet-eared hummingbird lasts from July to October in Venezuela, and at least from December to February in northwestern Argentina. The chalice-like nest is approx. 6 cm tall and 4.5 cm deep and is made of various soft plant materials. The outside is decorated with ferns and twigs. He places this on horizontal branches or brings it on a hanging branch in the bushes, for example. B. the species Prosopis ferox . Once a nest was discovered in a crevice 2.8 meters above the ground. A clutch consists of two eggs. An egg weighs approx. 0.95 grams and is 17 by 10.5 mm in size. The incubation period is 17 to 18 days, incubation is carried out exclusively by the female. Reports of the rearing of the nestlings by the male require further research and have been questioned. In the higher altitudes there is hardly any mortality of nestlings from nest robbers.

distribution and habitat

Distribution (green) of the violet-eared hummingbird

The great violet-eared hummingbird prefers forest edges, open forests, flowering gardens, plantations, sub- páramo and páramo at altitudes of 1700 to 4500 meters.

migration

During the dry season, the great violet-eared hummingbird populations that live in the Páramo area move to lower altitudes. During this time he was spotted even at an altitude of 200 meters. Populations that live deeper are considered resident birds . A report from northern Chile in the Andes of the Región de Tarapacá in July could point to a stray visitor , migratory movement or a previously unknown breeding population.

Bird keeping

The great violet-eared hummingbird is one of the few species of hummingbird that is also kept by private individuals as an ornamental bird. They each need a single cage because they are aggressive towards other species. Males and females are only kept together for mating. The offspring has already been successful, but it is considered difficult.

Subspecies

So far, three subspecies of the violet-eared hummingbird are known.

  • Colibri coruscans coruscans ( Gould , 1846) - The nominate form occurs in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta , Sierra de Perijá , the mountains in northwestern Venezuela and the Andes south through Ecuador, Peru to Bolivia, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina.
  • Colibri coruscans germanus ( Salvin & Godman , 1884) - This subspecies is distributed to the Tepuis in the south of Venezuela, in the west of Guyana and the adjacent north of Brazil on the Roraima-Tepui . In the subspecies, the front upper head, the underside and the tail are bluer than in the nominate form .

Colibri coruscans rostratus Phelps & Phelps Jr , 1952 is now considered a synonym for C. c. Germanus considered.

Etymology and history of research

The first description of the great violet- eared hummingbird was in 1846 by John Gould under the scientific name Trochilus (Petasophora) coruscans . Gould did not know the exact location in South America. Only later was it added to the genus Colibri, newly created by Johann Baptist von Spix in 1824 . This name is the Spanish word for hummingbird and probably originally comes from the Caribbean. »Coruscans« is the Latin word for »sparkling, glittering«. "Rostratus" is the Latin word for "beaked, long-beaked". »Germanus« is also of Latin origin and means »brother«. It could also be derived from “germen” for “offshoot”.

literature

  • Thomas Züchner, Peter Boesman, Guy Maxwell Kirwan in: Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, Jordi Sargatal , David Andrew Christie , Eduardo de Juana: Sparkling Violet-ear (Colibri coruscans) in Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive . Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
  • Martina Dubach: Quantitative analysis of the respiratory system of the house sparrow, budgerigar and violet-eared hummingbird . In: Respiration physiology . tape 46 , no. 1 , 1981, ISSN  0034-5687 , pp. 43-60 , doi : 10.1016 / 0034-5687 (81) 90067-0 , PMID 7330491 .
  • James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
  • John Gould: Mr. Gould exhibited to the Meeting three new species of the family of Trochilidae, which he thus characterized . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . tape 14 , no. 158 , 1846, pp. 44-45 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • William Henry Phelps, William Henry Phelps, Jr .: Nine new subspecies of birds from Venezuela . In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . tape 65 , 1952, pp. 39-54 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Osbert Salvin, Frederick DuCane Godman: Notes on Birds from British Guiana Part III . In: The Ibis (=  5 ). tape 2 , no. 46 , 1884, p. 443-452 ( biodiversity library ).
  • Johann Baptist von Spix: Avium species novae, quas in itinere annis MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX per Brasiliam jussu et auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I. Bavariae Regis Augustissini suscepto colleoit et descripsit . tape 1 . Impensis editores, Munich 1824 ( biodiversity library ).

Web links

Commons : Great Violet-Eared Hummingbird  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files
Wiktionary: violet-eared hummingbird  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Thomas Züchner u. a.
  2. ↑ Martina Dubach, p. 43 f
  3. ^ IOC World Bird List Hummingbirds
  4. ↑ a b John Gould, p. 44
  5. ↑ Osbert Salvin et al. a., p. 451
  6. ^ William Henry Phelps et al. a., p. 44
  7. ^ Johann Baptist von Spix, p. 80
  8. ↑ James A. Jobling p. 113
  9. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 119
  10. ↑ James A. Jobling p. 338
  11. ↑ James A. Jobling p. 172