- Saucerottia beryllina
Amazilia beryllina
Identification
Male
- Emerald green
- Purple rump
- Some purple wing and tail feathers
- Bright green gorget
- Black bill (lower mandible has red base)
- Undertail coverts cinnamon-brown
Female: duller with pale grey belly and undertail coverts.
Distribution
Resident year round in Mexico to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and a rare summer visitor to southeast Arizona and New Mexico.
Taxonomy
Five subspecies are recognized[1]: berrylina and viola (berrylina group) west and north of the Mexican isthmus, lichtensteini, sumichrasti, and devillei (devillei group) east and south of isthmus. These two groups are reportedly quite different and deserve further study to determine if they are full species according to Howell and Webb[2].
Habitat
Foothills and highlands, oak and pine woodlands and edges, oak scrub and clearings, plantations.
Behaviour
Breeding
It builds a nest of plant fibres and spider webs, covered with lichens, in a tree or shrub. The 2 white eggs are incubated by the female for about 14 days.
Diet
The diet includes nectar and insects.
Vocalisation
A series of hoarse, high twitters sirr, kirr-I-rr, kirr-I-rr; also a buzzing drrzzzzt.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124
- Hummingbirds.net
- Whatbird
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Berylline Hummingbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Berylline_Hummingbird
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
