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Blue-throated Sapphire | Chlorestes eliciae
Goudstaartsaffierkolibrie | Zafiro garganta azul | Safira-de-garganta-azul
The Blue-throated Sapphire is a Central American hummingbird that occurs in the guide area only in the far north-west of Colombia. The male combines a blue throat, a red bill with a black tip and a glossy golden-bronze to coppery tail, which is reflected in its Dutch name. It lives at forest edges and in semi-open country in the lowlands.
Voice
High, thin, squeaky notes and a dry twittering; the song is a repeated series of high, thin notes.
Recording: Stephan Risch — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
9 cm, with a straight, red bill with a black tip. The male is green above, with a violet-blue throat, a green breast and a greyish belly; the rump and tail glisten golden-bronze to coppery. The female has less and duller blue on the throat and is greyer below. Young birds resemble the female.
Confusion species
Golden-tailed Sapphire Chrysuronia oenone also has a golden tail, but the male has a blue head and the species lives east of the Andes. Sapphire-throated Hummingbird Chrysuronia coeruleogularis has a forked, dark tail and a mostly dark bill. Humboldt's Sapphire Chrysuronia humboldtii has a blue head and a blue-black tail and lives mainly in mangroves. Violet-bellied Hummingbird Chlorestes julie is smaller, with a violet-blue belly and a dark tail.
Habitat
Edges of humid and semi-humid forest, secondary forest, gallery forest, plantations and gardens in the lowlands, locally up to about 1000 m. It takes nectar in the lower and middle levels, often at flowering shrubs, and catches small insects. The nest is a small cup placed low in a shrub.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia only in the far north-west, in northern Chocó and around the Gulf of Urabá, continuous with its occurrence in Panama. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from southern Mexico to Panama.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Look at flowering shrubs along forest edges and in gardens in the lowlands near the Panama border, for example around the Gulf of Urabá.
Conservation status
Least Concern. In the guide area its occurrence is limited to a small border region; the species tolerates secondary forest and semi-open country.
Scientific name
Chlorestes eliciae | (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846)
Bourcier & Mulsant described the species in 1846 as Trochilus Eliciae; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chlorestes was introduced in 1854 by Reichenbach. The genus name combines Greek khlōros, 'green', with esthēs, 'clothing', so 'green-clad'. The species name honours Claudine Hélène Elicia Alain, née Bourcier (1821–1902), daughter of the French hummingbird specialist Jules Bourcier, one of the describers. The specimen the first description was based on came from (according to the description).