Violet-headed Hummingbird - BirdForum Opus

Presumed subspecies guimeti
Photo © by Pitter
Chocó Dept., Colombia, August 2007

Klais guimeti

Identification

8cm
Straight black bill
Male

• Violet or deep blue forehead, forepart of crown, chin and throat
• Metallic bronze-green upperparts
• Silvery bluish-green central tail feathers
• Dusky-purple remiges
• White spot behind each eye
• Brownish-grey underparts, spotted or flecked with green, especially on the sides
  

Female:

Photo © by Greg Lavaty
Arenal, Costa Rica, January 2009

• Paler blue forehead and crown
• Grey underparts tinged with metallic green or bronze-green on the sides and flanks

Distribution

Central and South America: found from Honduras to Bolivia and east to Brazil and Venezuela.

Taxonomy

Three subspecies are recognized¹:

• K. g. merrittii:

• Eastern Honduras to eastern Panama

• K. g. guimeti:

• Coastal ranges and Andes of Venezuela south along east slope of Andes of Colombia and Ecuador to northern Peru

• K. g. pallidiventris:

• Eastern Peru to west-central Bolivia

Habitat

Mid elevation cloud forest, jungle forest, humid foothill forest edges.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes nectar.

Breeding

The female builds the cup shaped nest of moss and cobwebs, lined with seed plumes, in trees usually above a stream. The 2 white eggs are incubated by the female.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

1. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Violet-headed Hummingbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Violet-headed_Hummingbird

External Links

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