Violet-fronted Brilliant - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Stanley Jones
Fundo Alto Nieva, San Martín, Peru, January 2017

Heliodoxa leadbeateri

Identification

11–13 cm (4¼-5 in)
Mostly green with dark, forked tail.
Male has blue or violet crown, and in nominate subspecies orange on side of head, golden reflections on back of neck and on tail coverts, lacking in other, brown central tail becoming blue in others.
Female is smaller and has underside pale washed with green spots.

Distribution

Female
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Rio Madre de Dios Region, Peru, September, 2009

South America: found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• H. l. leadbeateri:

• Coastal mountains of northern Venezuela (Falcón to Carabobo and Miranda)

• H. l. parvula:

• Andes of Colombia and western Venezuela

• H. l. sagitta:

• Andes of eastern Ecuador and northern Peru

• H. l. otero

• Andes of central Peru to north-western Bolivia

Habitat

Juvenile, subspecies otero
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Cock of the Rock Lodge, Challabamba, Parque Nacional del Manu, Cusco Department, Peru, September 2018

Cloud forest, moist to wet forests and second growth, shade coffee plantations, at not too high elevations.

Behaviour

Diet

Usually feeds below canopy to undergrowth, usually inside forests. Not in flocks.

Their main diet consists of nectar taken from flowers at about 1-10 m in height.

Breeding

There is little information available. The breeding season runs from January to May. The clutch of 2 eggs is incubated by the female.

Gallery

Click on photo for larger image

• 

  Immature, Subspecies sagitta''
  Photo © by mmdnje
  Copalnga Lodge, Bomcuscaro. Ecuador, December 2007

• 

  Subspecies sagitta''
  Photo © by firecrest15
  Wildsumaco Lodge, east Andes, Ecuador, April 2015

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. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
3. Erize et al. 2006 Birds of South America, non-passerines. Princeton Illustrated Checklists, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-691-12688-7
4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2017)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Violet-fronted Brilliant. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Violet-fronted_Brilliant

External Links

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