The emerald-chinned hummingbird (''Abeillia abeillei'') 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 ...

in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by ...

, Guatemala, Honduras,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

.HBW 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 27 May 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The emerald-chinned hummingbird is the only member of genus ''Abeillia''. It has two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''A. a. abeillei'' and ''A. a. aurea''.

Description

The emerald-chinned hummingbird is long and weighs about . Both sexes of both subspecies have a short, straight, dull black bill. The nominate adult male has metallic bronze green to greenish bronze upperparts. Its central pair of tail feathers are bronze green and the rest black with a faint bluish or bronzy gloss. All have brownish gray tips. Its face has a bold white spot behind the eye. Its chin and upper throat are brilliant metallic emerald green and the lower throat velvety black to dusky metallic bronze green. The rest of its underparts are deep brownish gray with some metallic bronze green gloss except on the belly. The undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are s ...

are metallic bronze green with wide brownish gray edges to the feathers. Nominate females are similar to the male but lack the metallic throat. Their underparts are entirely pale gray with some metallic green spots on the sides. Subspecies ''A. a. aurea'' is smaller than the nominate. Where the nominate male is bronze green, this subspecies is golden green.Arizmendi, M. d. C., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, C. A. Soberanes-González, and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Emerald-chinned Hummingbird (''Abeillia abeillei''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.emchum1.01 retrieved August 5, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of emerald-chinned hummingbird is found discontinuously from

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

in southern Mexico through Guatemala into northern Honduras. ''A. a. aurea'' is found from southern Honduras into northern Nicaragua. The species inhabits the interior and edges of humid evergreen

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucia ...

and pine-evergreen forest. In elevation it ranges between .

Behavior

Movement

The emerald-chinned hummingbird's movements, if any, are not known.

Feeding

The emerald-chinned hummingbird forages low to the ground for nectar, usually in cover. Its diet has not been detailed but is known to include the flowers of

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

Verbenaceae The Verbenaceae ( ), the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs, and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell. Th ...

, and Oenotheraceae. Males defend clusters of flowers. In addition to nectar, the species feeds on small insects that it gleans from flowers, leaves, and tree trunks while hovering.

Breeding

Little is known about the emerald-chinned hummingbird's 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 ...

. It is reported to nest in Mexico during February and March, and to build a cup nest low in the forest understory. Its incubation length and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

The emerald-chinned hummingbird's song is "a high, thin, slightly squeaking chipping, ''tsin, tisn-tsin tsin-tsin tsin-tsin, or tsi tsi tsi-si, tsi-tsi tsi tsi-tsi''..." When foraging it gives "a liquid, rattling trill ... at times only single notes given, ''puip puip''" and when perched "a sharp ''sii'ing''".

Status

The IUCN has assessed the emerald-chinned hummingbird as being of Least Concern, though it population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. It has "Special Protection" status in Mexico because its habitat there is under threat. "The primary threats to this species are logging of mature forests, and habitat conversion for agriculture and livestock production."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q479802 emerald-chinned hummingbird Hummingbird species of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras emerald-chinned hummingbird Taxa named by René Lesson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot