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Chiribiquete Emerald | Chlorostilbon olivaresi
Olivares' smaragdkolibrie | Esmeralda de Chiribiquete | Esmeralda-de-chiribiquete
The Chiribiquete Emerald lives only in the Serranía de Chiribiquete, an isolated group of sandstone table mountains in Colombian Amazonia. The species was described only in 1996 and is named in science after the Colombian ornithologist Antonio Olivares. It is a relatively large emerald with a glittering blue-green throat.
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Voice
While foraging a sharp, dry, scratchy cht. The song has not been described.
Recording: Jacob Socolar — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
8–9 cm, with a short, straight bill and a dark steel-blue, shallowly forked tail. In the male the upper mandible is black and the lower mandible red with a black tip; it is metallic green above, with golden-green sides to the head, a glittering blue-green throat and upper breast and otherwise shining green underparts. The female is bronzy green above and pale grey below, with a dusky face, a white stripe behind the eye and a black bill with a reddish base to the lower mandible; the outer tail feathers have a dark blue band and white tips.
Confusion species
Blue-tailed Emerald Chlorostilbon mellisugus is smaller, has an all-black bill and lacks the blue-green throat; it lives in the open lowlands around the Chiribiquete. Glittering-throated Emerald Chionomesa fimbriata is larger, with a longer bill, a white central stripe down the belly and a bronzy green tail.
Habitat
Open scrub and savanna-like vegetation on the sandstone plateaus and slopes of the Chiribiquete, and forest on the somewhat lower parts; it avoids the surrounding Amazonian lowlands. It takes nectar from flowers of shrubs and herbs and catches small insects. Little is known about its nest and breeding.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Only in Colombia, in the Serranía de Chiribiquete in the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Not found outside the guide area.
How and when to look
The Chiribiquete lies in a remote national park that can be reached almost only by plane or helicopter and with a permit; records are therefore scarce.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is small and the population size is unknown, but almost all of its habitat lies within Chiribiquete National Park and the plateaus are hardly visited by people.
Scientific name
Chlorostilbon olivaresi | Stiles, 1996
Stiles described the species in 1996 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Chlorostilbon was introduced in 1853 by Gould. The genus name combines Greek khlōros, 'green', with stilbōn, 'glittering'. The species name honours Father Antonio Olivares, a Colombian ornithologist who built up a bird collection at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. The specimen the first description was based on came from Serranía de Chiribiquete, Colombia.