Red-tailed Comet

Goldschwanzsylphe ♂

The Goldschwanzsylphe ( Sappho sparganurus ) or Schleppensylphe is a sailor bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). It is found in the South American countries of Bolivia and Argentina. The stock is classified by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern ).

Features

The Goldschwanzsylphe achieved depending on the tail length a body length of about 12 to 19 cm, with the easily salvaged beak ca accounts for 17 mm. The forked tail, consisting of rather thick lugs with straight blunt ends, varies in length between 5 cm and 10 cm in pups with fully grown male. Adult males are bronze-green with a V-shaped emerald green throat. Large parts of the back and Brüzels are purple. The tail is orange- golden, the golden in the light looks green and velvety-black spots at the ends. The blackish underside has a slight gold shimmer. The females have a pale yellow-brown base, which are crossed by fine green spots. The significantly shorter tail has black spots with white side seam.

Juveniles are similar to females but have a bronze green back with a slightly copper-colored rump. The white of the outer feathers easily penetrates into the inner webs.

Dissemination

The species occurs in the high plateaus, mountain forests of the Andes of Bolivia, Chile and Western Argentina. There she lives in the low vegetation. They are found at elevations between 2,000 to 4,000 meters. They prefer dry mountain slopes with scattered trees and bushes and herbs covered with vegetation. In canyons they are also found in dense thickets or semi-moist deciduous forests.

Way of life

This species feeds primarily on the nectar of the Busch parasites ( Psitacnthus cuneifolus ), which she collects in Schwirrflug. Furthermore, these birds take cover more often sunbathe to their high energy requirements. The males occupy a territory and defend it vigorously against male rivals. The birds their long tail beat the mating season up and down very quickly.

Among her favorite plants they fly to include Castilleja, sage (Salvia ), and flowers with long calyx, such as tobacco (Nicotiana ), belonging to the belts flowers plants Tripodanthus and the companies belonging to the broomrape plants Lamourouxia.

Brood

The nest, which is like a tree, rock face is is from parts of plants, mosses made ​​. It is known that they lay their eggs from April to June in Bolivia. In Argentina, in the province of Córdoba the Goldschwanzsylphe were discovered in November breeding nests.

Vocalizations

When Nahrungsaufnaheme they often come from a tuneless tjrrt. If they sit on elevated branches listens to her reputation as sharp tsha and bang sounds they repeat monotonously in second by second intervals.

Subspecies

Currently, two subspecies are distinguished:

• Sappho sparganurus sparganurus ( Shaw, 1851) - The nominate form is found in the north and central Bolivia.
• Sappho sparganurus sapho ( Lesson ), 1828 - The subspecies is distributed from the south of Bolivia over the northern and western part of Argentina to the east of central Chile. An occurrence in Chile at the pass of Portillo de las Yeguas as one finds it in some authors, but doubted. The subspecies differs from the nominate by the purple pink golden tail.

Etymology and History of Research

George Shaw described the Goldschwanzsylphe under the name Bar-tailed Humming -bird Trochilus sparganurus. The type specimen came from the Museum by William Bullock. As a distribution area he called erroneously Peru, a country in the Goldschwanzsylphe not occur.

The term " Sappho " goes back to a Greek poet. The epithet " sparganurus " is composed of the Greek words " Sparganō, sparganon σπαργανόω " tie wrap for " band " and " oura ουρά " for " tail " together. The word " saphiro " has its origin in the Latin word " saphirus " for " sapphire ".