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Glittering-bellied Emerald | Chlorostilbon lucidus
Goudbuiksmaragdkolibrie | Esmeralda ventridorada | Besourinho-de-bico-vermelho
The Glittering-bellied Emerald is an emerald of southern South America that occurs in the guide area only in Bolivia. The male has a glittering blue-green throat, golden-green underparts and a red bill with a black tip. Over much of its range it is one of the commonest hummingbirds of dry woodland, savanna, gardens and parks.
Voice
A dry, rattling tret or tchik, often in series, and a soft, high twittering.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
8–10 cm, with a short, straight, red bill with a black tip and a blue-black, forked tail. The male is bronzy green above, with a glittering blue-green throat and a golden-green glittering breast and belly. The female is bronzy green above and pale grey below, with a white stripe behind the eye, a dark ear patch and a red lower mandible; the outer tail feathers have whitish tips. Young birds resemble the female.
Confusion species
Blue-tailed Emerald Chlorostilbon mellisugus is smaller and has an all-black bill. Gilded Sapphire Hylocharis chrysura is larger, with a rufous chin, a red bill and a golden-copper tail. White-chinned Sapphire Chlorestes cyanus has a violet-blue head in the male and an unforked tail. Glittering-throated Emerald Chionomesa fimbriata has a white central stripe down the belly and a bronzy green tail.
Habitat
Open dry woodland, chaco, cerrado and savanna with shrubs, forest edges, gallery forest, gardens and parks, from the lowlands to about 2000 m in the dry valleys of the eastern slope of the Andes. It takes nectar from small flowers on shrubs, trees and herbs and catches small insects. The cup nest is placed low in a shrub or sapling; the female alone incubates two white eggs.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Bolivia in the lowlands of the east and south and in the dry valleys of the eastern slope of the Andes. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina; the southernmost birds move somewhat north in winter.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Look at flowering shrubs and trees in gardens, parks and dry woodland in eastern and southern Bolivia, for example around Santa Cruz.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a large range and tolerates man-made habitats well.
Scientific name
Chlorostilbon lucidus | (Shaw, 1812)
Shaw described the species in 1812 as Trochilus lucidus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chlorostilbon was introduced in 1853 by Gould. The genus name combines Greek khlōros, 'green', with stilbōn, 'glittering'. The species name comes from Latin lucidus, 'bright' or 'shining'. The specimen the first description was based on came from (according to the description).