Copper-rumped Hummingbird - BirdForum Opus

Subspecies erythronotos
Photo © by Graham Osborne
Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad

Saucerottia tobaci

Amazilia tobaci

Identification

9–11 cm (3½-4.1/3 in)
Upperside is green with variable amounts of copper, strongest on the rump, but sometimes covering all the way to the crown. Wings and tail has a purple-blue sheen; tail is slightly forked. Underside is generally green, blending in to either coppery-cinnamon-rufous or bluish black undertail coverts (variation is geopgraphic and correlates with different subspecies). Mandible can have some flesh colour, but tip is always black.

Subspecies caudata
Photo © by Luis R
Amaranta Casa de Colibries, Los Teques, Estado Miranda, Venezuela, 13 June 2009

Distribution

Trinidad, Tobago and Venezuela.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 7 subspecies^[1]:

S. t. tobaci:

Tobago

S. t. erythronotos:

Trinidad

S. t. aliciae:

Arid littoral of north-eastern Venezuela and Isla Margarita

S. t. monticola:

North-western Venezuela

S. t. feliciae:

Coastal ranges and arid littoral of northern Venezuela

S. t. caudata:

North-eastern Venezuela

S. t. caurensis:

Eastern and south-eastern Venezuela (Orinoco Valley to the tepuis)

Habitat

Nominate
Photo © by obasanmi
Arnos Vale Hotel, Tobago, June 2005

Rain and cloud forests, second growth, etc. but also gardens and savannas with scattered trees up to 1600 to 1800 metres above sea level.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of nectar gleaned from a wide variety of plants. In addition they glean insects from vegetation or hawking over fallen fruit.

Breeding

They construct a small cup nest, which is placed in the fork of a small tree or bush. The clutch contains 2 white eggs which are incubated by the female for 16-19 days; the young fledging about 19-23 days later. There may be 2-3 broods per season.

Vocalisation

Call: chip
Song: tyee-tyee-tyoo.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Weller, A.A., P. F. D. Boesman, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Copper-rumped Hummingbird (Amazilia tobaci), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.corhum1.01

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Copper-rumped Hummingbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Copper-rumped_Hummingbird

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