Blue-throated goldentail

Blue-throated goldentail
At Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Chlorestes
Species:
C. eliciae
Binomial name
Chlorestes eliciae
(Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846)
Range of H. eliciae

The blue-throated goldentail (Chlorestes eliciae), also known as the blue-throated sapphire, is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.[3] Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest.[4][5][6]

The male blue-throated goldentail is a little bit larger than the female and display similar patterns but brighter colors on its plumage.[7] This species can be distinguished by its straight, bright red bill with a black tip. The crown and upperparts of the male blue-throated goldentail are green, and more coppery or golden on the rectrices. The throat is glittering blue-violet to violet, the belly is cream-brown buff, and the sides of the breast and the flanks are streaked with green. The female's throat is rather violet blue, mixed with gray buff, and the belly is paler than the male's. The immature looks like the female adult as it has duller colors. This characteristic more pronounced in the female juvenile.

As most hummingbird species, the blue-throated goldentail is primarily nectarivorous.[7] It feeds on flowers of shrubs (Stachytarpheta, Hamelia) and large herbs (Heliconia, Renealmia, Thalea), on epiphytes, and sometimes on small arthropods.[6]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2012). "Hylocharis eliciae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ^ Rodríguez M., J.V. (1978). Hallazgo de Hylocharis eliciae (Aves-Trochilidae) en Colombia. Caldasia 12: 359-361.
  4. ^ Stiles, F.G., and A. F. Skutch. (1989). A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.
  5. ^ Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. (1995). A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York, New York.
  6. ^ a b Stiles, F.G. & Boesman, P. (2017). Blue-throated Goldentail (Hylocharis eliciae). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/55468 on 14 October 2017).
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference NeoBirds was invoked but never defined (see the help page).