White-eared Hummingbird

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Trochiliformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Genus:	Hylocharis
Species:	H. leucotis

Binomial name

Hylocharis leucotis
Vieillot, 1818)

The White-eared Hummingbird, Hylocharis leucotis, is a medium-sized hummingbird. It is 9-10 cm long, and weighs approximately 3-4 g.

[edit] Overview

Adults are colored predominantly green on their upperparts and breast. The undertail coverts are predominately white. The tail is darkly colored and straight. The most predomient feature is the white eyestripe found in both males and females. It is more boldly colored in the male. The bill of the male is straight and very slender. It is red in coloration, and shows a black tip. His throat is a metallic torquoise blue. His crown and face is violet. The female is less colorful than the male.

The breeding habitat is in pine oak forests from northern Mexico through the cordilleran ranges, Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre Oriental, and Cordillera Neovolcanica, also the southern Mexico ranges to southern Nicaragua. It will regularly stray to central and southeastern Arizona-(the White Mountains, the Mogollon Rim, and the Madrean sky islands), as well as the adjoining regions of western and southwestern New Mexico in the United States. It occasionally is found eastwards to west Texas.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers and flowering trees using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Hylocharis leucotis. 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