Tooth-billed Hummingbird

Tooth -billed Hummingbird painted by Henry Constantine Richter

The Tooth -billed Hummingbird ( Androdon aequatorialis ) or hook Hummingbird is a species of bird in the family of hummingbirds ( Trochilidae ). The range of this species includes the countries of Ecuador, Colombia and Panama. The stock is assessed by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern ).

Features

The Tooth -billed Hummingbird reaches a body length of about 14 cm, of which the relatively long straight beak makes up 41 mm. While the upper mandible is black, the lower mandible is yellow. The front top of the head of the male has a copper color. The remainder of the top, with the exception of the copper-red rump is bronze green. The upper tail-coverts is decorated with a striking white ribbon. The rounded tail is gray-green with a dark fringe at the end. The hem is crisscrossed wide white spots. The throat and belly decorated with wide black stripes. The coloration of the females looks a bit dull, what stands out especially on the crown. In addition they have less stripe on the bottom.

Juveniles are similar to females, but have a bluish neck

Behavior

They move very fast in the woods in the lower strata to the lower part of the tree crowns. Occasionally, one can discover on forest edges it as well. Your nectar they collect, in which they fly in front of the flowers, for example, the Balsabäume or Cecropia, very quickly back and forth. Here, the beak pointing upwards and the tail is soaring. In addition, they visit for nectar intake occasionally flowers. The striking teeth they probably use to catch insects. They are usually alone and often also fly to epiphytes.

Vocalizations

Your cries sound like a sharp piercing cheet, that sounds every now and then doubled as cheet -it. Occasionally one hears a series of bright -sounding tsit - tsee -tsu -tsu or Tsee.

Distribution and habitat

You see them only rarely and very occasionally in moist forests and on the edges of forest in the lowlands and hills. In Panama, they occur at altitudes 750-1550 meters just to the east. In Colombia, their range extends to the wet lowlands of central and western Andes. To the south it reaches the valley of the Magdalena River to the municipality in Antioquia Remedios. In Ecuador, they are found mostly in the mountain forests, plains and hills of the Northwest. Here they are mainly present in the province of Esmeraldas. Especially at Playa de Oro they are relatively frequently observed at altitudes between 100 and 800 meters. Few reports describe of occurrences in the west of the province of Pichincha in the coastal mountains of the Cordillera de mongering.

Etymology and History of Research

John Gould described the hummingbird originally under the present name Androdon aequatorialis. The type specimen was Gould from Ecuador.

The term " Androdon " derives from the Greek words " recognized ἀνήρ, andros ἀνδρός " for " man " and " Odous, Odon " for " tooth " from. The Latin epithet " aequatorialis " stands for " equatorial belonging " to the equator, but was often used for animals from Ecuador.

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