Peruvian Sheartail

Corakolibri engraving after John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter

The Corakolibri ( Thaumastura cora ) is a sailor bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). It is found in the South American countries of Chile and Peru, and possibly in Ecuador. The stock is classified by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern ).

Features

The male Corakolibri reaches a body length of about 13 to 15 cm. The female is much smaller and is large between 7 to 7.5 cm. The short straight beak makes up about 12 mm. The upper side of the male shimmers in light green. The sparkling magenta coloration of the throat goes einwenig into the side. The underside is gray white with green spots on the side. The tail is about 10 cm long with the predominantly white central tail feathers are the longest. All other tail feathers have a brown coloration. The upper side of the female also adorned with a bright shimmering shade of green. The underside is yellowish white. The significantly shorter 2 cm long tail is mostly black with white spots. The central tail feathers are green.

Young males are very similar to the adult, but have a speckled throat coloration and a white breast stroke.

Distribution and habitat

They live oases in the thicket near river banks and fog vegetation of dry coastal landscape of Peru and the extreme north of Chile. In the Ancash region and especially in the southern parts of the range they are found up to 3000 meters above sea level. You can often see in landscapes and gardens it also. In 1991 a female was sighted in the extreme southern Ecuador in the province of Loja. Probably it is this is a random walk, during their seasonal migration. Since the range in Peru dates back to the Piura region, but an isolated occurrence in Ecuador can not be completely ruled out.

Behavior

There is not much known about their behavior. For food intake, they fly the bushes in the mountains. It has been observed that they ( Myrtis fanny ) the same plants as the Türkiskehlelfe fly. In certain areas, and seasonal they can be found in greater numbers.

Vocalizations

The sounds they emit sitting on exposed branches, consist of quick disordered series of bold Tschip Call, electrically acting Summlauten and squeaky trilling. The Tschip calls sometimes occurs in rapid series.

Etymology and History of Research

René Primevère Lesson and Prosper Garnot described the hummingbird under the name Orthorynchus Cora. The type specimen had caught the officer of the frigate La Coquille Mr. de Blois de la Calande. Only later was slammed by Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte in his book Conspectus of the genus generum avium Thaumastura.

The word " Thaumastura " the genus is derived from the Greek words " Thaumas " from for " wonderful " and " oura " for " tail ."

The name " Cora " was given in honor of a sun priestess of the Incas in Jean -François Marmontel's novel Les Incas ou la destruction de l' empire du Pérou from 1777. So Lesson wrote:

" L' oiseaux - mouche Cora, dont le nom rappelle la tochante prêtresse du Soleil, de l' histoire des Inca de Marmontel, habite les bouquets d' arbustes epars aux alentours de Callao, nom loin de Lima, la Ciudad de los Reyes you farouche Conquérant you Pérou ( Pizarre ) ). "