Xantus's hummingbird

Xantus' hummingbird
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Trochiliformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Basilinna
Species: B. xantusii
Binomial name
Basilinna xantusii
Lawrence, 1860)

Xantus' hummingbird, Basilinna xantusii, is a medium-sized hummingbird. It is 8–9 cm long, and weighs approximately 3-4 g.

Adults are colored predominantly green on their upper parts and back. The tail is darkly colored and straight. The most prominent feature is the white eye stripe found in both males and females. The stripe is further enhanced by a black eye stripe below the white one. Both have cinnamon brown underparts, with the brown extending further up the throat in the female. Green replaces the brown in the throat of the male. The bill of the male is straight and very slender. It is red in coloration, and shows a black tip. His crown and face is bluish-black.

The breeding habitat occurs in various habitats of southern Baja Peninsula of Mexico where it is considered endemic. It has been recorded as a vagrant up the Pacific coast of North America to British Columbia in Canada.

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

This hummingbird was named after John Xantus de Vesey (Xantus János), a Hungarian zoologist.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Hylocharis xantusii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

External links