Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Mosquito Hummingbird

The mosquito Hummingbird ( Chrysolampis mosquitus ), also called topaz ruby hummingbird, is an agile hummingbird is known mainly through the aft movement of its wings.

Features

With a length of 9 cm and a wingspan of 12 cm, it is one of the smallest species of hummingbirds. He weighs about 4 grams. While the plumage of the female is only inconspicuously colored brown and white, pierce the glittering feathers of the male, especially in sunshine, downright eye. In direct sunlight it is often perceived only as a bright - Glimmering point.

Way of life

Mosquito hummingbirds live outside the breeding season very solitary in estuaries. These defend it even against much larger birds. It is said to them that they can attacking raptors out the eyes. They are very fast and agile, and spend most of their lives in flight.

Reproduction

The pairing of mosquito hummingbirds could not be observed for a long time, since the birds while flying too fast. Only with photo cameras, which served as a trigger photoelectric switches, yet images of the pairing could be made. The male mates in the air with several females in quick succession and sings in a pitch that is imperceptible to most people.

After mating, the female lays from moss, lichen and sticky cobwebs on a tiny, cup-shaped nest. In it incubates the one or two eggs until the young hatch after 12 to 21 days. The nestling period is 3 weeks, after the young birds fledge and leave the nest.

Nutrition

Like most hummingbirds also feeds the mosquito hummingbird nectar and insects. To get to the nectar, they perform a level flight before flowering. The wings move in a figure eight, which rotate by special wing designs wing in the shoulder joint. The chest and shoulder muscles make up about one third of the total weight. The beak is just the right length to reach the nectar and pollinate the flower.

The mosquito hummingbird to drink because its energy turnover is about 25 times higher than that of a pigeon-sized bird very much nectar. He can not swallow caught insects and flies, therefore, so fast that it is pressed into the throat with the prey in its beak.

Dissemination

The distribution of mosquito hummingbirds extends over Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, northeastern Bolivia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago. They live mainly in forests, as well as in the bush and savanna country. Your kind is becoming increasingly rare because they are hunted for their bladders and their habitat is destroyed.