Plain-capped Starthroat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Heliomaster constantii (Delattre, 1843) |
The Plain-capped Starthroat, Heliomaster constantii, is a large-sized hummingbird. It is 11-12 cm long, and weighs approximately 7-8 g.
Adults are colored predominantly metallic bronze on their upper-parts, tail, back and crown. The bird has a dark eye-stripe with a white stripe above and below. The Starthroat also has a white patch on the rump. The throat patch, or gorget, is a metallic violet-red. The breast and underparts are a grayish white. The bill is straight, long and very slender. It is darkly colored. The female is slightly less colorful than the male.
The breeding habitat occurs in various habitats of western Mexico, (the Sierra Madre Occidentals), to southern Costa Rica. It has occasionally been recorded in south-easternmost Arizona of the United States, the Madrean sky islands of the Sierra Madre ranges.
These birds feed on nectar from flowers and flowering trees using a long extensible tongue or catch insects on the wing.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Heliomaster constantii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
