Purple-collared Woodstar

Türkiskehlelfe ♀

The Türkiskehlelfe ( Myrtis fanny ) is a sailor bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). It occurs in the South American countries of Ecuador and Peru. The stock is classified by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern ).

Features

The male Türkiskehlelfe reaches a body length of about 9 to 9.5 cm. The female is slightly smaller and is between 8 to 8.5 cm. The slightly curved beak makes up about 18 mm. The upper side of the male is bronze-green and is traversed by small white spots on the sides. The aquamarine blue throat has at the bottom of a purple rim. The underside is decorated with a washed- white color with green on the flanks. The long forked tail is bronze-green. The females are similar to males, but have an entirely yellowish underside with some white on the abdomen. While the tail feathers are bronze green, the outer ones are black in color and in this case have a distinctive white coloring at the end. The tail is slightly shorter in females.

Distribution and habitat

Their natural habitat is the semi- humid Andean slopes with scattered trees, agaves and gardens. Here you can find them at altitudes 700-3200 m.

Behavior

They usually sit in branches that are not too far away from the ground. They behave territorially. Your flight is faster and less like flying a bee than is the case with other elves. During courtship they fly a U- shaped path. The males commute thus before the females. They give a series of thin ti -ti -ti sounds of itself, which merges into aah aah aah deep at the bottom of the U- flight.

Subspecies

There are two subspecies have been described which differ in their coloration and their area of ​​distribution:

• Myrtis fanny fanny ( Lesson, 1838) The nominate comes in the tropical to subtropical Pacific inclined toward the slopes of the Andes of Ecuador through Peru almost to the Chilean border before. Every now and then you see them in the Arequipa region. In Ecuador, its range extends from the valley of the Río Mira in the province of Carchi over the north of Pichincha ( almost to Quito ) on Tungurahua up in the province of Loja.
• Myrtis fanny megalura Room, 1953 This subspecies, in contrast to nominate a slightly longer tail. The underside of the female is slightly paler. Subspecies occurs in northern Peru from the provincial Cajabamba up in the Southeastern region of La Libertad and the extreme Northwest Huánucos ago.

In his analysis of the genus Myrtis John Todd mentioned room that it may is another subspecies, as the coloring in northern Ecuador is slightly different from the nominate form in northern Peru. However, he also mentions that further studies are needed.

Etymology and History of Research

René Primevère Lesson described the hummingbird under the name Ornismya fanny. Only later was slammed by Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach of the genus Myrtis. The type specimen of the subspecies was captured on April 13, 1894 near the village Malca in the province Cajabamba the natural history collector Oscar Theodor Baron ( 1847-1926 ).

The term " Myrtis " goes to the Boeotian poet Myrtis from Anthedan who lived in the fourth century back.

The specific epithet is a reverence for the woman of the naturalist and collector Gouye de Longuemare dar. So Lesson wrote:

" Nous donnons à ces oisseaux, dont nous la partie ignorons, le nom de madame Fanny gorge de Longuemares, dont le mari possede la collection la mieux sans préparée contredit d' oiseaux - mouche, et nous auquel unissent les liens d'une vielle amitié. "

The word " megalura " in the subspecies is derived from the Greek words " megalos " for " large " and " oura " for " tail " from.