Purple-collared Woodstar P1012954 DxO8-1

The purple-collared woodstar (''Myrtis fanny'') 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 tribe

Mellisugini Mellisugini is one of the three Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Trochilinae in the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other two tribes in the subfamily are Lampornithini (mountain gems) and Trochilini (emeral ...

of subfamily

Trochilinae Trochilinae is one of the six subfamily, subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The subfamily is divided into three Tribe (biology), tribes: Lampornithini (mountain gems) containing 18 species, Mellisugini ...

, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in

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 ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

.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 exact relationships within the "bee hummingbirds" are uncertain, but the purple-collared woodstar appears to be closely related to the amethyst woodstar (''Calliphlox amethystina'').Schuchmann, K.L. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Purple-collared Woodstar (''Myrtis fanny''), 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.pucwoo1.01 retrieved July 23, 2022 It is the only member of its genus and has two subspecies, the nominate ''M. f. fanny'' and ''M. f. megalura''.

Description

The purple-collared woodstar is long and weighs . Both sexes have a short, decurved, black bill. Their upperparts are bronze-green. Males have an iridescent aquamarine

gorget A gorget ( ; ) was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the English medieval clothing, medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon (headgear), chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather Collar (c ...

with a shiny violet band below it. The rest of the underparts are dirty white. The long forked tail is dusky brown glossed with light green. The female's underparts are buff, with a bit of white on the throat and belly. Its tail is short and rounded; the central pair of feathers are blue-green, the next pair blue-green with black tips, and the rest black with white tips. The two subspecies are alike but for ''M. f. megalura''s longer tail.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of purple-collared woodstar is found in western and southern Ecuador and western Peru all the way south to

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...

Department. ''M. f. megalura'' is found in northern Peru from

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...

south to

Huánuco Huánuco (; ) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Huánuco. The met ...

. The species inhabits open landscapes such as dry coastal scrub, open woodlands, and gardens. In elevation it ranges from sea level to , though in Ecuador it is mostly found between .

Behavior

Movement

The movements of the purple-collared woodstar, if any, are not known, but elevational movements are thought to be probable.

Feeding

The purple-collared woodstar feeds on nectar by

trap-lining In ethology and behavioral ecology, trap-lining or traplining is a feeding strategy in which an individual visits food sources on a regular, repeatable sequence, much as Animal trapping, trappers check their lines of traps. Traplining is usually ...

, visiting a circuit of flowering plants. It also feeds on small insects captured on the wing.

Breeding

The purple-collared woodstar breeds between March and June in Ecuador and June to October in Peru. Males make a semicircular courting display flight. Females build a tiny cup nest of plant fibers and spiderweb in a fork of a thin branch. It is typically placed above the ground, but sometimes higher. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for 15 to 16 days; fledging occurs 19 to 22 days after hatch.

Vocalization

The male purple-collared woodstar makes "a series of twittering 'ti-ti-ti-trl' phrases" at the top of its courtship flight, and at the bottom (mechanically) makes "a remarkable, nasal-sounding 'anh-anh-anh-anh-anh'". In a chase it makes "a fast, high-pitched, descending twittering 'ti-ti-ti-ti'", and another call is "a fast dry 'chi-chi-chi'".

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 purple-collared woodstar as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, and though its population size is not known, it is believed to be stable. It is considered common throughout its range and readily accepts human-made landscapes like gardens and cultivated areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q854701, from2=Q15879568 Trochilinae Birds of Ecuador Birds of Peru Birds described in 1838 Taxa named by René Lesson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot