- Diglossa baritula
Identification
10-12 cm; like other flowerpiercers, the bill is black (except for a paler base to lower mandible) with a slight upturn and a hook at the end of the maxilla
Male is greyish-blue above with a darker hood, and a cinnamon rufous underside. Female is greyish olive with more cinnamon on underside. Juveniles are similar to female with more buffy to yellowish underside.
Variation
Males become darker on the underside with bluish extending further down the breast as one moves east and south.
Distribution
Central America: found in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 3 subspecies[1]:
- D. b. baritula:
- Highlands of central Mexico (south-eastern Jalisco to Isthmus of Tehuántepec)
- D. b. montana:
- Highlands of southern Mexico (Chiapas) to Guatemala and El Salvador
- D. b. parva:
Habitat
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Photo © by Peter R. Bono
Location: Las Guacamayas, Oaxaca, Mexico, July 2009
Edges and weedy areas of pine-oak and evergreen forest, suburban gardens, flowering fields. Most frequent between 1200 and 3500 m asl but has been observed at 9000 m elevation.
Behaviour
The diet includes nectar and fruit while young are fed mainly insects. The way they get access to nectar through making a hole in the side of the flower is shared with other members of the genus Diglossa.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Howell, SNG and S Webb. 1995. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0198540120
- Fagan, J & O Komar 2016. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York, USA. ISBN 978-0-544-37326-6
- Lauck, C. (2020). Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer (Diglossa baritula), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.cibflo1.01
- BirdForum Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Cinnamon-bellied_Flowerpiercer
