- Diglossa plumbea
Identification
10cm. Blue-grey with a lead-grey throat and breast. The tail and wings are black with grey feather edges. The female is olive-brown above with a paler throat and breast shading to buff on the belly. Young birds are like the female but have two tawny wing bars and faintly streaked buff-yellow underparts. An upturned bill with a hooked upper mandible and pointed lower mandible.
Distribution
Costa Rica to western Panama.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Mountain forest canopy, edge of the forest, in clearings, and in gardens.
Behaviour
The birds approach a flower from behind, pierce a hole in the corolla, and then insert their brush-tipped tongue into the hole to extract the flower nectar, often without pollinating the flower.
The female builds a large cup nest of coarse plant material and lined with fine fibres, placed 0.4 to 4 m up in a dense shrub, grass tussock or pine. 2 brown-speckled pale blue eggs are laid, and are incubated by the female alone for 12-14 days to hatching.
