Purple-backed Thornbill

Purple Short -billed Hummingbird painted by John Gould & Henry Constantine Richter

The Purple Short -billed Hummingbird ( Ramphomicron microrhynchum ), sometimes also called small -billed Hummingbird, a species of bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). The species has a large distribution area, which includes the South American countries of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. The stock is assessed by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern ).

Features

The Purple Short -billed Hummingbird reaches a body length of about 8 centimeters. He has the shortest beak of all hummingbirds, which is only up to 5 millimeters long. The male has a bright purple top. Behind the eye there is a small white spot. The throat sparkles gold green while the rest of the underside glows green. The long forked tail is black. The female is slightly paler in color. The top is metallischgrün and also has the postokularen white spots. Sometimes it has white lines in the rear portion of the top. The underside is white with plenty of green round speckles. It has a relatively long black tail, where the outer feathers are white polka dots. The tail is not as strong forked as in the male.

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs at the edges of typical cloud forests and in the upper regions of moist mountain pine zones with low, gnarled trees and growing in bushy highlands ago at altitudes 2500-3600 meters.

Behavior

The bird holds on during the midday heat, mostly in the crown area of the trees. Then he usually sits in the outer branches of the trees or in the treetops. His nectar he gathers together with other dogs at the flowering trees. When Nektarsuche he buzzes mostly before the flowers and clings rare. In addition to the nectar they feed on insects. He scours the leaves and picked out the insects. His commuting flight resembles that of the bees. Before the eyes of a female, the male shows a distinctive courtship behavior.

Subspecies

So far, four subspecies are known, which differ mainly by their coloring.

• Ramphomicron microrhynchum microrhynchum ( Boissonneau, 1840) - Comes in the Andes from Colombia to Ecuador before to north- western Peru. nominate
• Ramphomicron microrhynchum andicolum (Simon, 1921) - Simon originally placed the name of R. m. andicola. Present in the Venezuelan Andes of the state of Mérida. In the male tail, in contrast to nominate black violet. Breast and belly are shimmering green grass. The coverts are cinnamon brown to yellow with small blue-violet points. The female is bronze on the upper tail-coverts. The underside is yellow-brown rather than white with green spots also. The under tail-coverts are light brown.
• Ramphomicron microrhynchum albiventre Carriker, 1935 - Widespread in the Andes of Peru in the central regions of Huánuco, Cuzco and Apurimac. Top similar to the nominate form. Differs only on the bottom. The hue of the throat golden orange less, more yellow green. Bottom clearer and less green gold bronze. The Gelbraun on the rump and the lower tail-coverts is replaced by a dirty white. On the under tail-coverts, the central tail feathers are dark purple.
• Ramphomicron microrhynchum bolivianum Schuchmann, 1984 - If you hit Bolivia in the Cordillera de Cocapata in the northwest corner of the department of Cochabamba. This subspecies is the only one metallic purple top. The bottom with the yellow-green throat is similar to R. m. albiventre. The green on the belly is darker than the nominate and R. m. andicolum. The strongly forked tail is dark blue.

Naming

Auguste Boissonneau described the hummingbird under the name Ornismya microrhyncha.