- Oreotrochilus estella
Includes Green-headed Hillstar
Identification
Male:
- Emerald green throat with a black border
- White breast
- Chestnut belly stripe.
Female - brown above and grey below. Some greenish speckling on the throat.
Distribution
South America: found in south-west Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile and north-western Argentina.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[2]
- O. e. stolzmanni (Green-headed):
*O. e. estella:
- O. e. bolivianus:
- Andes of central Bolivia (Cochabamba)
Clements (2007)1 recognises the Green-headed Hillstar as a separate species (Oreotrochilus stolzmanni), but this taxon was returned to subspecies status in Clements (2008)2.
Habitat
High-altitude grassland.
Behaviour
The females build nests attached to the rock surface of ravines.
References
- Clements, JF. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
- Arthur Grosset
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Andean Hillstar. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Andean_Hillstar