Purple-backed Sunbeam

White breast Andean Hummingbird ( Aglaeactis aliciae )

The white breast Andean Hummingbird ( Aglaeactis aliciae ), also known as purple or purple back hummingbird wings hummingbird, is a hummingbird from the kind of reflector hummingbirds. It is endemic in northern Peru.

Description

The white breast Andean hummingbird reaches a size of 12 to 13 centimeters. The weight is 7.3 to 8.3 grams. In the male head and mantle are earth brown. Lower back and rump are shimmering violet. The under tail-coverts are green gold. Reins, chin, throat, chest, middle and chest tufts are white. The rest of the underside is dark brown. The tail is bronze with white tips. The short straight beak is black. In the female the violet staining is reduced or completely absent in the back. The immature birds look similar to the females. They have tan swab on chin, throat, the belly center and at the reins. The throat can also be completely tan. The head feathers are lined tan.

Occurrence and habitat

The white breast Andean hummingbird is limited to the valleys of the Río Marañón and Río Chusgón on the eastern slope of the Western Andes in the region of La Libertad in northern Peru. It inhabits semi-open Andean slopes at altitudes up to 2900-3500 m, which are dominated by alder and eucalyptus.

Way of life

Its diet consists of mistletoe flowers, including the type Tristerix longebrachteatum, the parasite of alders and from small insects. Little is known about its breeding biology. Fledglings and immature birds were observed in February, March and June.

Status

From 1979 to 2006 there were regular evidence of the species only from the upper Marañón valley near the village of El Molino, the alders were replaced by eucalyptus plantations. In a funded by the American Bird Conservancy expedition in the vicinity of the original locality, noted ornithologists Fernando Angulo Prato Longo and Frank Lambert, that the white breast Andean hummingbird is also found in other places, including the Chusgón Valley. Thus, the area of ​​the known distribution area of 1 km ² increased to 178-333 km ². Nevertheless, the entire habitat of the white breast Andean hummingbirds is threatened by slash and burn the purpose of obtaining pastures and by the deforestation of the alders. BirdLife International estimates the stock to 1000-2500 copies.