Purple-throated Mountain-gem
Encyclopedia
The Purple-throated Mountaingem (Lampornis calolaemus) is a hummingbird
which breeds in the mountains of southern Nicaragua
, northern Costa Rica
and western Panama
. This bird
inhabits forested areas in hilly terrain, and is found at altitudes from 800 m to 2500 m.
It is replaced in southern Costa Rica by its close relatives, the White-throated and Gray-tailed Mountaingems, with which it is sometimes considered conspecific. These three species form a closely related group that evolved some 3.5 million years ago and has diversified since.
The adult male has bronze-green upperparts and underparts except for a brilliant green crown, purple throat and dark grey tail. The female lacks the bright crown and throat, and has rich cinnamon underparts. Young birds resemble the female but have buff fringes to the upperparts plumage.
The call of this species is a sharp buzzy zeet.
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The food of this species is mainly nectar, taken from a variety of flowers.
For the Rubiaceae
Psychotria elata and Palicourea lasiorrachis, it is the default pollinator
. Like other hummingbirds it also takes small insects as an essential source of protein. Male Purple-throated Mountain-gems defend flowers and scrubs in their feeding territories, and are dominant over most other hummingbirds.
Females have slightly longer bills than males. There is some degree of niche differentiation
between the sexes. Though both prefer flowers with a corolla 14-21 mm long by 3.5-8 mm wide, females far more often than males utilize plants with longer and thinner corollas.
The female Purple-throated Mountaingem is entirely responsible for nest building and incubation. She lays two white eggs in a deep plant-fibre cup nest 0.7-3.5 m high in a scrub, small tree or vine. Incubation takes 15-19 days, and fledging another 20-26.
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
which breeds in the mountains of southern Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, northern Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and western Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
. This bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
inhabits forested areas in hilly terrain, and is found at altitudes from 800 m to 2500 m.
It is replaced in southern Costa Rica by its close relatives, the White-throated and Gray-tailed Mountaingems, with which it is sometimes considered conspecific. These three species form a closely related group that evolved some 3.5 million years ago and has diversified since.
Description
It is 10.5 cm long. The male weighs 6.0 g and the female 4.8 g. The shortish black bill is slightly curved.The adult male has bronze-green upperparts and underparts except for a brilliant green crown, purple throat and dark grey tail. The female lacks the bright crown and throat, and has rich cinnamon underparts. Young birds resemble the female but have buff fringes to the upperparts plumage.
The call of this species is a sharp buzzy zeet.
Ecology
For the Rubiaceae
Rubiaceae
The Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, variously called the coffee family, madder family, or bedstraw family. The group contains many commonly known plants, including the economically important coffee , quinine , and gambier , and the horticulturally valuable madder , west indian jasmine ,...
Psychotria elata and Palicourea lasiorrachis, it is the default pollinator
Pollinator
A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...
. Like other hummingbirds it also takes small insects as an essential source of protein. Male Purple-throated Mountain-gems defend flowers and scrubs in their feeding territories, and are dominant over most other hummingbirds.
Females have slightly longer bills than males. There is some degree of niche differentiation
Niche differentiation
The term niche differentiation , as it applies to the field of ecology, refers to the process by which natural selection drives competing species into different patterns of resource use or different niches...
between the sexes. Though both prefer flowers with a corolla 14-21 mm long by 3.5-8 mm wide, females far more often than males utilize plants with longer and thinner corollas.
The female Purple-throated Mountaingem is entirely responsible for nest building and incubation. She lays two white eggs in a deep plant-fibre cup nest 0.7-3.5 m high in a scrub, small tree or vine. Incubation takes 15-19 days, and fledging another 20-26.
External links
- Purple-throated Mountain-gem photo; Article w/RangeMaps Infonatura NatureServe
- "Purple-throated Mountain-Gem" photo gallery VIREO
- Photo-High Res--(Male); Article nationalzoo.si.edu – "Smithsonian: Bird Photo Gallery"
