Purple breasted hummingbird

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Purple breasted hummingbird
Purple breasted hummingbird

Purple breasted hummingbird

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Sailor birds (Apodiformes)
Family : Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)
Genre : White tip hummingbirds ( Urosticte )
Type : Purple breasted hummingbird
Scientific name
Urosticte benjamini
( Bourcier , 1851)

The purple-breasted hummingbird ( Urosticte benjamini ) or sometimes white- tipped hummingbird is a species of bird from the hummingbird family (Trochilidae). The species has a large range that covers about 17,000 square kilometers in the South American countries of Colombia , Ecuador, and Peru . The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .

features

The male purple-breasted hummingbird reaches a body length of about 9 centimeters, while the female is only about 7.5 centimeters tall. The straight black beak becomes about 20 millimeters long. Most of the male's plumage is shimmering green. The throat is glittering dark green. There is a sickle-shaped purple spot on the chest. Postocular (behind the eyes) there is a distinctive white dot. The fanned black and bronze colored tail has white speckles on the central control feathers. The female is glossy green and also has a white spot postocularly. The lower part is white and streaked with thick green speckles, especially on the throat and chest. The bronze-colored, fanned tail has white speckles on the outer feathers.

Habitat

Distribution area of ​​the purple breasted hummingbird

The bird moves mainly in the interior of protected moist forest areas. This makes it very difficult to watch him. You rarely see him at the edges of the forest. Sometimes you can see it on the blooming Inga tree or Guaba , a tree from the mimosa family . You can see it at heights between 700 and 1500 meters.

It is found on the banks of the Pacific in western Colombia on the upper reaches of the Río San Juan . It is also present in the south and south-west of Ecuador in the province of El Oro and in the north-east of Peru.

behavior

The hummingbird gets its food from flowers close to the ground to tree tops. As a loner, it hovers from branch to branch or below the foliage to explore its surroundings. Sometimes he visits the widely scattered flowers of the undergrowth. Usually it sits inconspicuously inside the treetop.

Subspecies

The subspecies Urosticte benjamini benjamini ( Bourcier , 1851) and Urosticte benjamini ruficrissa Lawrence , 1864 were previously assessed. Today the red tipped hummingbird ( Urosticte ruficrissa ) is a separate species.

Etymology and history of research

The type specimen of the purple breasted hummingbird came from the area around Gualea in the province of Pichincha and was brought from Ecuador by Bourcier. He described the species under the name Trochilus Benjamini . It was not until 1853, with the sixth delivery of his hummingbird tablets, that John Gould assigned him to the new genus Urosticte . This name is derived from the Greek words "ourá ουρά " for "tail" and "stiktos στικτός " for "brightly spotted, blotchy". The species name is Benjamin Leadbeater (1830-1890), the eldest son of John Leadbeater (1804-1856) dedicated.

literature

  • Steven Leon Hilty , William Leroy Brown : A guide to the birds of Colombia . Princeton University Press, Princeton 1986, ISBN 0-691-08372-X ( books.google.de ).
  • Robert Sterling Ridgely, Paul J. Greenfield: Birds of Ecuador Field Guide: Field Guide . tape 2 . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2001, ISBN 0-8014-8721-8 .
  • James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
  • Jules Bourcier: Note on our espèces de trochilidées . In: Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences . tape 32 , 1851, pp. 186-188 ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
  • John Gould: A monograph of the Trochilidæ, or family of humming-birds . tape 3 , delivery 6, plate 190. Taylor and Francis, London 1853 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Web links

Commons : Purple Breasted Hummingbird ( Urosticte benjamini )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Steven Leon Hilty et al., P. 277
  2. ^ Robert Sterling Ridgely et al., P. 267
  3. ↑ a b Jules Bourcier, p. 186
  4. ^ IOC World Bird List Hummingbirds
  5. ^ John Gould, plate 190 & descriptive text
  6. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 397
  7. ↑ John Gould, text on plate 190, “ […] and who has named it Benjamini, after the eldest son of Mr. Leadbeater, a name so well known to all naturalists ”.