Alternative name: Merida Flowerpecker
- Diglossa gloriosa
Identification
11-11.5cm. A medium-sized Flowerpiercer.
- Slender. slightl upturned bill with prominent hook at tip
- Deep black head, throat, chest, side of neck and most of upperparts
- Bluish-grey rump and uppertail-coverts (usually concealed)
- Bluish-grey superciliary stripe short and inconspicuous, some birds with traces of rufous malar stripe
- Blue-grey marginal and upperwing-coverts
- Rufous-chestnut breast, belly and undertail-coverts
- Grey flanks
Sexes similar, juveniles are greyish-brown above and mottled and streaked on the back.
Distribution
Western Venezuela (Trujillo, Merida and Tachira north of the Tachira gap).
A locally common restricted-range species.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
It was formerly regarded as conspecific with Black Flowerpiercer, Black-throated Flowerpiercer and Gray-bellied Flowerpiercer.
Habitat
Open or semi-open dry scrubby areas in highlands. Also in cultivated areas, hedgerows, flower gardens, montane thickets and low, wooded borders. Occurs from 2500m to 4150m.
Behaviour
Feeds on nectar and insects.
Usually seen singly or during breeding season in pairs.
Only occasionally in mixed-species flocks.
Highly strung and nervously acting but easier to observe than Glossy Flowerpiercer.
Often attacked by larger hummingbirds like Golden Starfrontlet.
Breeding little known. One nest believed to have been from this species was a deep cup made of grass and moss, placed atop a bank.
A resident species. Some local movements related to flowering likely.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2011. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553781
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Merida Flowerpiercer. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Merida_Flowerpiercer
