Crowned Woodnymph - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Purple-crowned or Blue-crowned woodnymph

Violet-crowned Woodnymph
Photo © by Jim Crosswell
Costa Rica

Thalurania colombica

Includes Violet-crowned Woodnymph; Green-crowned Woodnymph; Emerald-bellied Woodnymph

Identification

Photo © by Birdingcraft
Female
Rara Avis, Costa Rica

Male 10.2 cm

• Violet or green crown, upper back, shoulders and belly
• Iridescent green throat and breast
• Green lower back
• Deeply forked blue-black tail
  

Female - 8-9 cm

• Bright green upperparts
• Duller green below
• Grey throat and breast
• Tail

• Rounded
• Green at the top
• Blue-black lower half
• White corners
  

Young males:

• Lack violet colouring and iridescence
• Bronze underparts
  

Immature females: buff fringes to nape, face and rump feathers

Distribution

Male Green-crowned Woodnymph
Photo © by megan perkins
Maquipicuna Lodge, Ecuador, February 2005

Violet-crowned from Belize to Central Panama¹, and in three separate populations in central, and north-east Colombia, and western Venezuela². The form Green-crowned Woodnymph occupies eastern Panama and western Colombia and thereby effectively separate Violet-crowned Woodnymph in estern and western populations.

Taxonomy

Male Emerald-bellied Woodnymph (subspecies hypochlora)
Photo © by NJLarsen
Buenaventura, El Oro, Ecuador, June 2019

This taxon was first split into three species, Mexican Woodnymph, Violet-crowned Woodnymph and Green-crowned Woodnymph. The last two were recently relumped.

Subspecies

Female, Subspecies colombica
Photo © by NJ Larsen
Mountain House, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, 19 August 2023

There are eight subspecies^[1]:

• T. c. townsendi:

• Belize and eastern Guatemala to south-eastern Honduras

• T. c. venusta:

• Eastern Nicaragua to western Panama

• T. c. colombica:

• Northern Colombia and north-western Venezuela

• T. c. rostrifera:

• North-western Venezuela (south-western Táchira)

• T. c. fannyi:

• Eastern Panama to western Colombia

• T. c. subtropicalis:

• West-central Colombia (Cauca Valley and adjacent West and Central Andes)

• T. c. verticeps:

• Pacific slope of West Andes of southwest Colombia and northwest Ecuador

• T. c. hypochlora (Emerald-bellied Woodnymph)

• Pacific lowlands of Ecuador to extreme n Peru

Habitat

Wet lowlands and foothills, observed up to heights around 1800 m.

Behaviour

Breeding

The female builds the cup shaped nest from plant fibres. The clutch consists of 2 white eggs which is incubated by the female for 15-19 days; the young fledge after a further 20-26 days.

Diet

The diet includes nectar, small insects and spiders.

Vocalisation

Call: fast, high-pitched kip.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
3. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
4. Birdforum thread discussing taxonomy of Woodnymphs
5. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Crowned Woodnymph. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Crowned_Woodnymph

External Links

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