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Purple-crowned Fairy | Heliothryx barroti
Paarskopfeeënkolibrie | Hada enmascarada | Beija-flor-de-coroa-roxa
The Purple-crowned Fairy is a green hummingbird with bright white underparts and a long tail with white sides, which it constantly fans in flight. It lives in the canopy and along the edges of humid forest west of the Andes. It often pierces the base of a flower with its short, sharp bill and takes the nectar that way, without pollinating the flower.
Voice
A sharp, dry tsit, often in flight; sometimes a short series of high, chipping notes.
Recording: Olaf Jahn — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
11–13 cm, with a short, straight, sharply pointed black bill; the female has a longer tail than the male. The male is bright green above, with a glittering violet crown and a black mask from the bill through the eye to the ear coverts, ending in a small violet spot. The underparts are pure white. The central tail feathers are blue-black, the outer ones white. The female lacks the violet crown; her throat is white, sometimes with fine grey spots.
Confusion species
Black-eared Fairy Heliothryx auritus closely resembles the female, but the male has a green crown; that species lives east of the Andes, so the two do not occur together in the guide area. Other white-bellied hummingbirds in the west, such as White-necked Jacobin Florisuga mellivora, lack the black mask and the long white tail.
Habitat
Humid lowland and foothill forest, forest edges, clearings with tall trees and semi-open country with scattered trees, including cacao plantations, from sea level to about 1200 m. It forages mainly in the canopy and at middle levels, often with the tail spread and bobbing. It takes nectar by piercing the base of the flower and catches small insects in the air. The nest is a cup of plant down on a thin branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia on the Pacific slope, in the northern lowlands and in the Magdalena valley. In Ecuador in the western lowlands and foothills, south to El Oro and Loja. In Peru only in the far north-west, in Tumbes, scarce. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Central America, north to Guatemala and Belize, and in north-western Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along forest edges and clearings in the foothill forest of western Ecuador and the Pacific slope of Colombia. Watch for a hummingbird moving from flower to flower high in the canopy with a flashing white tail.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Deforestation in western Ecuador and Colombia affects its habitat, but the species also uses forest edges and semi-open country.
Scientific name
Heliothryx barroti | (Bourcier, 1843)
Bourcier described the species in 1843 as Trochilus Barroti; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Heliothryx was introduced in 1831 by Boie. The genus name combines Greek hēlios, 'sun', with thrix, 'hair'. The species name honours Théodore Adolphe Barrot (1801–1870), French diplomat in Colombia (1831–1835) and the Philippines (1835–1838). The type locality is Cartagena, Colombia. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cartagena, Colombia.