The white-tipped quetzal (''Pharomachrus fulgidus'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the family
Trogonidae
The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family Trogonidae contains 49 species in seven genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the Early ...
found in
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
,
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
Guyana
Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...
. Two subspecies have been described. ''Pharomachrus fulgidus fulgidus'' is found in the mountains of northern Venezuela and ''Pharomachrus fulgidus festatus'' ranges through the Santa Marta mountains of northeast Colombia.
Quetzals
Quetzals () are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus ''Pharomachrus'' being exclusively Neotropical, while a single species, the eared quetza ...
are iridescent and colourful birds found in forests, woodlands and humid highlands. The white-tipped quetzal has been a limited subject of research. ''Pharomachrus'' nests have been studied to analyse the effects of rainfall on breeding, however conclusions are based on single observations. On the IUCN Red list of threatened species, the white-tipped quetzal is listed as a species of least concern.
Identification
Morphology
The adult male white-tipped quetzal is identified by a golden, green-bronze crown and nape with bright green breast, back, rump and upper tail-coverts. The male bill is butter yellow and feet are brownish-black. The under tail-coverts and belly are a striking red, wings and upper tail are black with the under tail appearing white, thus the ‘white-tipped’ descriptive name. These broad, white backed outer
rectrices
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the Bird wing, wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those ...
occupy about a third of their length. The male has elongated feathers on the forehead, creating a short crest. The white tips of outermost rectrix are 50 mm long, next 55mm, and next 32 mm long.
Adult females are less iridescent, with no frontal crest and the throat, belly and breast appearing brown-grey bordered by a green band. The female bill and feet are yellowish-brown to grey and their three outermost rectrices are also narrowly tipped with white.
In immature birds, both male and female chicks have remiges, scapulars and wing coverts intermixed with buff, outer rectrices infused with white and feathers more narrow and pointed than adults. Immature females have a brown breast.
Trogons are the only birds with a
heterodactyl toe arrangement.
Vocalisations
Hilty and colleagues (1986) describe the voice as a loud ''kirra'', or ''kirra, kip'', and when excited ''kier, kip-kip-kip-a''.
Habitat
The white-tipped quetzal can be found in Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana and the species is endemic to the northern
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. In Colombia and Venezuela they appear in upper
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
and
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...
zones. The white-tipped quetzal occurs in a wide variety of habitats from subtropical to temperate forests, cloud forests, secondary growth, forest edges, moist ravines and coffee plantations. Like the
golden-headed and
crested quetzals, they are cloud forest birds. They are rarer in Guyana, however they have been seen inhabiting the most dense areas in the barrancas (deep ravines) of forests.
Due to the lack of observations on the white-tipped quetzal, it is unknown why they favour these environments, however it is likely due to the temperate, humid conditions, the availability of berries and the ability to find small crevices in these areas to nest in.
Ecology
Breeding predominantly occurs towards the end of the dry season, between January and April. It is thought that the quetzal's reproductive cycle is directly correlated with fruit availability. Reproductive activities including courtship, nesting and chick rearing occur when fruits are most abundant in the forest conditions. This aids the species during energy-demanding phases of their life which may increase the probability of successful reproduction.
White-tipped quetzal nests are usually located in isolated, non-native trees, sometimes in previous holes of
woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...
s and often in dead tree trunks 4–10m above the ground.
Nests have been observed in an old cavity, excavated by a Woodpecker, in a dead snag, approximately 5 m above the ground at an elevation of 1600 m. They can also nest in
termite
Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
nests, laying 2–4 white or pastel-coloured eggs and there were subtle differences in egg color and size.
First breeding is usually at one to two years of age. The
altricial
Precocial species in birds and mammals are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. They are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Altricial ...
young hatch naked, quickly molting into their immature plumage without a significant downy stage. This fast, naked-to-feathered progression may be an ancestral characteristic or a result of nesting in cavities where the temperature is constant and down is not needed for temperature regulation. The species fledges in around three weeks and obtains adult plumage after their second prebasic
molt
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at ...
.
There is little data on the survival rates and competition of the white-tipped quetzal however its IUCN status suggests that the population is stable.
Diet
The white-tipped quetzal feeds on fruits and berries and has been observed collecting these by means of sallying from a perch. One individual has also been seen eating a large lizard on at least one occasion.
[ Their wide bills and weak legs reflect their diet within arboreal areas.
]
Behaviour
The specific behavioural habits of the white-tipped quetzal have not been studied in detail. However, it is presumed that they partake in the general behavioural patterns of the trogon
The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. The family Trogonidae contains 49 species in seven genera. The fossil record of the trogons dates back 49 million years to the Ear ...
family. The white-tipped quetzal is a fast flyer, but reluctant to fly long distances. Trogons are generally non-migratory. Some species undertake partial local movements, however it is presumed that the white-tipped quetzal is a sedentary species.
Trogons are usually inactive outside of intermittent feeding flights. They find food by the most commonly used technique for Trogons, which is a sally-glean flight where a trogon flies from a perch to its target on a branch or within foliage. Once it has arrived at its target the bird hovers and then grabs the item before returning to its original perch to consume the seed or berry.
It has been noted that although the White-tipped quetzal is striking and beautiful, it has few to no further engaging qualities. This lack of activity is presumably a defence against predation, likely to compensate for their famous bright feathers. Trogons have been observed moving from branch to branch, keeping their brightly coloured feathers sheltered from potential observers while also keeping watch using their flexible necks, which can turn through 180 degrees. These anti-predatory techniques provide an effective camouflage within their natural wooded habitats.
Threats
Predators of the White-tipped quetzal have not been recorded, however Trogons have reportedly been preyed upon by predatory mammals
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...
and hawks. One report of a Resplendent quetzal
The resplendent quetzal (''Pharomachrus mocinno'') is a small bird found in Central America and southern Mexico that lives in tropical forests, particularly montane cloud forests. They are part of the family Trogonidae and have two recognized s ...
taken, while caring for chicks, by a margay
The margay (''Leopardus wiedii'') is a small wild cat native to Mexico, Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal felid, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest.
Until the 1990s, margays were hunted for the wildl ...
.
''Pharomachrus'' quetzals are also at risk of parasites
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...
, similar to those who live on songbirds
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passerine, Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes co ...
or pigeons
Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...
in the same general area. ''Ornithoctona nitens'', native to neotropical America, appears to be a parasite specific to the family Trogonidae.
The white-tipped quetzal nests in old tree cavities, potentially limiting the population. The availability of nesting sites can often limit the reproductive and survival rates of birds within such populations. Habitat loss has also been found to be an increased threat for species in the Americas and the Cordillera de Caripe and Paria, where White-tipped quetzals abide, is currently threatened by the destruction of natural habitats. The destruction of forested areas in the Neotropics largely threatens wood-cavity nesting birds as the use of their nesting sites directly relies on the presence of trees. Even sustainable forestry practices, for example the removal of dead trees, will increase the risk of population declines in wood-cavity nesting birds.
Population and Conservation
Population size and distribution
The white-tipped quetzal is endemic to the Americas. The species occurs at altitudes of 900–1900 m in Venezuela, in the coastal cordillera from Yaracuy to Miranda, to the middle cordillera on Cerro Golfo Triste and spreading to the eastern cordillera in Anzoátegui, the northern Monagas, and Sucre east to Cerro Humo.
The species is also found at altitudes of 1500–2500 m, distributed through Colombia's Santa Marta mountains in the Sierra Nevada. However, a white-tipped quetzal was reported at an elevation of 725–775 m in a cafetel in Cucuchica, Venezuela, which suggests that the species has a greater range of distribution than has been observed.
The white-tipped quetzal is also native to Guyana, however its status there is unclear and the distribution of its population there has not been documented. This is likely due to the species inhabiting the most dense and savage areas and barrancas of the tropical forests.
Though it has the smallest distribution of any quetzal, it is fairly common within the ranges where it is found. Due to the lack of studies on the white-tipped quetzal, specific population numbers have not been predicted.
Status and Conservation
Although the white-tipped quetzal may have a restricted range, it is not predicted to approach the boundary for Vulnerable under the range size criteria, the population trend criteria or the population size criteria. This is because the species population is not declining or fluctuating, their habitat quality is stable and their population structure is firm and not subject to fragmentation. For these reasons the white-tipped quetzal is listed as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red list of threatened species. This means that no conservation strategies for the white-tipped quetzal or its habitats are planned or taking place. However it is noted that more research must be done on the species and its population statistics.
References
External links
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Photo
sunbirdtours
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1264098
white-tipped quetzal
Birds of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
Birds of the Venezuelan Coastal Range
white-tipped quetzal
Taxa named by John Gould
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot