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Grey-bellied Flowerpiercer | Diglossa carbonaria
Grijsbuikberghoningkruiper | Pinchaflor carbonero | Fura-flor-de-barriga-cinza
The Grey-bellied Flowerpiercer is a black flowerpiercer with a grey belly that occurs only in the Andes of Bolivia. It lives in scrub and Polylepis groves on the slopes and in the valleys of the eastern Andes. It used to be lumped with Black-throated, Black and Merida Flowerpiercers as a single species.
Voice
The song is a fast, high, twittering series of notes; the call is a short tsit.
Recording: Sjoerd Mayer — CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
14 cm, with an upturned bill with a hooked tip. The head, throat and upperparts are black, with a blue-grey shoulder patch and a grey rump. The breast and belly are grey, the undertail coverts rufous. The sexes are alike; juveniles are browner and streaked below.
Confusion species
Black-throated Flowerpiercer Diglossa brunneiventris has a chestnut belly and a grey malar stripe; intermediate birds are reported locally. Moustached Flowerpiercer Diglossa mystacalis has a pale malar stripe and a black belly and lives in wetter forest at the treeline. Rusty Flowerpiercer Diglossa sittoides has blue-grey upperparts and rusty underparts.
Habitat
Scrub, Polylepis groves, shrubby slopes, hedgerows and gardens in the highlands and the upper parts of dry valleys, mostly between about 2500 and 4300 m. It pierces the side of flower corollas for nectar and also eats insects. The nest is a cup 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
Only in Bolivia, in the Andes of La Paz and Cochabamba and the adjacent departments to the south. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Bolivia, search hedgerows and Polylepis groves in the highlands around Cochabamba; look for the grey belly and rufous undertail.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Common within a small range; the species tolerates farmland with hedgerows.
Scientific name
Diglossa carbonaria | (d'Orbigny, ACVMD & de Lafresnaye, 1838)
D'Orbigny, ACVMD & de Lafresnaye described the species in 1838 as Serrirostrum carbonarium; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Diglossa was introduced in 1832 by Wagler. The genus name comes from Greek diglōssos, 'double-tongued' or 'speaking two languages'. The specific name comes from Latin carbonarius, 'of charcoal', after the dark, coal-black plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Sica Sica, La Paz, Bolivia.