The sparkling violetear (''Colibri coruscans'') is a species of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics ar ...

widespread in highlands of northern and western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

, including a large part of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

(from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and northwards), the

Venezuelan Coastal Range The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System ( es, Sistema Montañoso Caribe) is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the c ...

, and the

Tepuis A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the G ...

. It occurs in a wide range of semi-open habitats, even in gardens and parks within major cities such as

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, Pichincha ...

, and is often the most common species of hummingbird in its range. It is highly vocal and

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The sparkling violetear has two subspecies, the nominate ''C. c. coruscans'' and ''C. c. germanus''. Other subspecies have been proposed to be separated from those two but that treatment has not been widely accepted.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021Züchner, T., P. F. D. Boesman, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Sparkling Violetear (''Colibri coruscans''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.spvear1.01 retrieved December 14, 2021 Sparkling Violetear JCB

Description

The sparkling violetear is the largest violetear at long. Male birds weigh and females . The nominate male's upperparts are metallic bluish green, the chin bluish violet, the belly blue, and the rest of the underparts green. Long erectile bluish violet plumes cover the ears. The tail is metallic green with a steely blue band near the end. Females are similar but smaller, and often have a white spot behind the eye. ''C. c. germanus'' is essentially the same as the nominate but the forehead, underparts, and tail are somewhat bluer.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of sparkling violetear is widely distributed. It is found in Venezuela's Sierra de Perijá, Colombia's

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

, and the Andes from Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia into northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. ''C. c. germanus'' is found on the

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran ...

s of southern Venezuela, western Guyana, and the adjacent Brazilian state of

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

. The species inhabits a variety of open landscapes including the edges of subtropical and temperate forest, woodland, gardens, city parks, and ''

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrowe ...

''. In elevation it mostly ranges from .

Physiology

Sparkling violetears display an extreme level of nighttime

torpor Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. The term "torpor" can refer to the tim ...

to conserve energy during cold temperatures at high elevation, having

body temperature Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperatur ...

s as low as during night compared to its daytime body temperature of . According to one study, the sparkling violetear has the smallest mean blood-air barrier thickness (0.183 µm) and the highest mass-specific respiratory surface area (87 cm²/g) in birds.

Behavior

Movement

The ''páramo'' populations of sparking violear move to as low as in the dry season. Populations below the ''páramo'' are generally year-round residents though they may make short movements.

Feeding

The sparkling violetear forages for nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants at all levels of the forest from the ground to the canopy. It also captures insects on the wing. It is very aggressive in most habitats, dominating all other hummingbirds while defending flowering trees, but aggression has not been observed in the ''páramo''.

Breeding

The sparkling violetear's breeding seasons vary across its range, from July through October in Venezuela to December through February in Argentina. The nest is a cup made of soft plant materials and decorated with lichens on its outside. It is placed on a horizontal branch, attached to a drooping twig, or sometimes in a cleft in rocks. The clutch size is two eggs. The incubation time is 17 to 18 days with

fledging Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerabl ...

20 to 22 days after hatch. Though some care of young by males has been reported, that behavior has not been confirmed.

Vocalization

The sparkling violetear is very vocal. Its principal song is "a long series of monosyllabic metallic chips, 'djit...djit...djit...' or 'tlik...tlik...tlik..'." It also sings "a medley of chips, squeals, gurgling sounds and short warbles" during aerial display. Its call is "a repeated short dry rattle 'drrr...drrr...'."

Status

The IUCN has assessed the sparkling violetear as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are unknown. It is common in its various habitat types including human-made ones like gardens and plantations.

References

External links

Photo: sparkling violetear ''Colibri coruscans''photo-2
{{Taxonbar, from=Q929489 sparkling violetear Birds of the Northern Andes Birds of Venezuela Hummingbird species of South America sparkling violetear Birds of the Tepuis