Andean Hillstar

Photo by Rodrigo Reyes
Putre (at 3500m), northern Chile, September 2008

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):

• Andes of northern and central Peru (Cajamarca, Huánuco) and adjacent southern Ecuador

*O. e. estella:

• Andes of south-western Peru to western Bolivia, northern Chile and north-western Argentina

• 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

1. 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
2. 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.

1. Arthur Grosset

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Andean Hillstar. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Andean_Hillstar

External Links

• Arthur Grosset's Birds

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