The Blue-headed sapphire or Gray's hummingbird (''Chrysuronia grayi'') is a species of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

in the emerald's tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilidae. It is found in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The blue-headed sapphire was formerly placed in the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

''Hylocharis'' and ''Amazilia''. It was moved by most taxonomic systems to '' Chrysuronia'' based on the results of a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014.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, 2021 However,

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

's ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

'' (HBW) retains it in ''Amazilia''. The blue-headed sapphire is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

. However, at one time what is now

Humboldt's sapphire Humboldt's sapphire or Humboldt's hummingbird (''Chrysuronia humboldtii'') is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics Humbol ...

(''C. humboldtii'') was treated as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of it.

Description

The blue-headed sapphire is long. Males weigh and females . Males have a straightish coral red bill with a black tip. Females' bills have a black

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

with red at its base and a mostly pinkish

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

with a black tip. Adult males have a deep glittering blue upper throat, face, and crown. Their nape is dark blue-green and the rest of their upperparts metallic green. Their tail is dark steel blue. Their lower throat, breast, and upper belly are glittering emerald-green with a small area of white on the lower belly. Their undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

are metallic green with dark grey edges. Adult females have metallic green to bronze-green upperparts. Their tail's base is dark bronze-green and the rest blue-black with greyish tips on the outer feathers. Their underparts are mostly dull white to greyish white with bronze-green on the sides of the throat and breast and some green flecks on the lower throat. Juvenile males have a dull bluish green face and crown, a bronzy green throat and breast, and a greyish white belly. Juvenile females are similar but duller and more bronzy overall.Stiles, F.G., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2021). Blue-headed Sapphire (''Chrysuronia grayi''), version 1.1. 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.blhsap1.01.1 retrieved September 12, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The blue-headed sapphire is found in inter-Andean valleys from western Colombia's Valle del Cauca Department south into Ecuador's

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

. It inhabits dry scrublands, the edges of woodland and taller forest, and cultivated areas. In elevation it mostly ranges between about but can be found as high as .

Behaviour

Movement

The blue-headed sapphire is reported to make significant seasonal movements, but details are lacking.

Feeding

The blue-headed sapphire forages for nectar at a variety of flowering shrubs and trees. It sometimes defends feeding territories, and when several gather at the crown of a flowering tree they are "notably aggressive". In addition to nectar, it feeds on insects taken by hawking from a perch or by gleaning from vegetation.

Breeding

Blue-headed sapphires in breeding condition have been noted between November and April. No other information on the species' breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

is known and its nest has not been described.

Vocalization

The blue-headed sapphire's song is "a repeated short-warbled phrase that starts with a squeaky 'tee' note, 'tee…teetlitlitsee-chup… teetlitlitsee-chup'." It also makes "short 'chip' notes and a high-pitched descending rattle."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the blue-headed sapphire as being of Least Concern, though its population size is unknown and believed to be decreasing. No specific threats have been identified. It appears "able to use more or less extensively altered, open or cultivated areas" though much of its native habitat has been converted to agriculture.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q882949 blue-headed sapphire Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Hummingbird species of South America blue-headed sapphire Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN