The indigo-capped hummingbird (''Saucerottia cyanifrons'') 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to Colombia.

Taxonomy and systematics

The indigo-capped hummingbird was formerly placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Amazilia ''Amazilia'' is a hummingbird genus in the subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in tropical Central and South America. Taxonomy The genus ''Amazilia'' was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist René Lesson. Lesson had used ''amazilia'' ...

''. 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 found that the genus ''Amazilia'' was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. In the revised classification to create

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

genera, the indigo-capped hummingbird was moved to the resurrected genus ''

Saucerottia ''Saucerottia'' is a genus of birds in the family (biology), family Trochilidae, or hummingbirds. Species The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in ''Amazilia''. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the ...

''.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022Clements, 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 ...

'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 indigo-capped hummingbird 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 "unispec ...

Description

The indigo-capped hummingbird is long and weighs about . Both sexes have a black bill with a red base to the

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bon ...

. The adult male has an indigo-blue crown, shining green upperparts with a bronze to coppery gloss on the rump, and bronze to bluish black uppertail

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 ...

. Its tail is deep steel blue. Its underparts are glittering golden green with undertail coverts that vary from bronze-green to dark bluish with whitish edges. The adult female's crown is turquoise-blue towards the rear and its throat feathers have a grayish bar near the end. Juveniles are like the female with a grayer belly.Weller, A.A., P. F. D. Boesman, and G. M. Kirwan (2021). Indigo-capped Hummingbird (''Saucerottia cyanifrons''), 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.inchum1.01.1 retrieved September 7, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The indigo-capped hummingbird is found in north and central Colombia, principally in

Norte de Santander Department North Santander (Spanish: Norte de Santander) () is a department of Northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the country, bordering Venezuela. Its capital is Cúcuta, one of the country's major cities. North Santander is bordered by Vene ...

, the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much o ...

valley, and the upper

Cauca River The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangue in Bolivar Department, an ...

valley. It inhabits semi-open to open landscapes such as the edges of wet forest, savanna, shrubby areas, plantations, and gardens; most of these are fairly dry. It is most common between but regularly occurs down to in the breeding season and sometimes to near sea level. It also rarely occurs as high as .

Behavior

Movement

The indigo-capped hummingbird apparently makes seasonal elevational movements in response to availability of flowering plants.

Feeding

The indigo-capped hummingbird forages for nectar and small

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s at all heights of its habitat, but mostly in the uppermost stratum. Though it sometimes gathers with other indigo-cappped hummingbirds at flowering trees, it is usually territorial and defends feeding patches from hummingbirds and other nectarivorous birds like

bananaquit The bananaquit (''Coereba flaveola'') is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. Before the development of molecular genetics in the 21st century, its relationship to other species was uncertain and it was either placed wi ...

s (''Coereba flaveola''). It usually captures arthropods by hawking from a perch in the canopy but does so occasionally by gleaning from foliage.

Breeding

The indigo-capped hummingbird's breeding season apparently extends from April to at least July. The nest is a cup of mosss, cobweb, and lichen. The clutch size is two eggs but nothing else is known about 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 ...

Vocalization

The indigo-capped hummingbird's song is "a repeated buzzy, squeaky phrase 'tzuk-keee ... tsrp'." It also makes "a high, sharp 'tsit'" call, sometimes in a series.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the indigo-capped hummingbird as being of Least Concern. It has a fairly large range and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. Its "wide altitudinal range, combined with apparent adaptability to man-made habitats, suggests hespecies is relatively secure at present."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1265835 indigo-capped hummingbird Birds of the Colombian Andes Endemic birds of Colombia indigo-capped hummingbird indigo-capped hummingbird Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN