White-chested Emerald
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| iWhite-chested Emerald | ||||||||||||||
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| Agyrtria brevirostris (Gould, 1859) |
The White-chested Emerald, Agyrtria brevirostris, is a hummingbird that breeds in eastern Venezuela, the Guianas and Trinidad. It is sometimes placed in a different genus as Amazilia chionopectus.
It is a widespread and common species in Trinidad, less so in Venezuela. It appears to be a local or seasonal migrant, although its movements are not well understood. It is a bird of cultivation and open woodland. The female lays her eggs in a small cup nest made of plant fibre and placed on a horizontal tree branch.
The White-chested Emerald is 8.9 cm long and weighs 4.7 g. The black bill is straight and fairly long, at nearly 2 cm. It has bright golden-green upperparts, becoming bronze on the tail, white underparts, and its flanks are green, or white spotted with green. The tail is tipped with purple-black. The sexes are similar.
White-chested Emeralds feed on nectar, usually taken from the flowers of large trees, but sometimes from smaller plants such as Heliconia. The also take small insects. The song of this species is a churring tche-tche-tche-tche-tche.
[edit] References
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
