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Sparkling Violetear | Colibri coruscans
Goulds violetoorkolibrie | Colibrí rutilante | Beija-flor-de-orelha-violeta-grande
The Sparkling Violetear is the largest violetear and one of the most widespread hummingbirds of the Andes, found from forest edges and scrub to gardens in cities. The male sings almost all day from an open perch and vigorously defends flowers against other hummingbirds. It is a regular visitor to feeders.
Voice
The song is a loud, metallic, rhythmic series of notes, such as chip-chuk, chip-chuk, repeated by the male for hours from an open branch. In chases dry, rattling notes. The male performs display flights, climbing and then descending with the tail spread.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm, with a fairly long, straight black bill. Glittering green, with a large blue-violet patch running back from below the eye that joins the patch of the other side under the chin. There is a blue-violet patch in the centre of the belly. The tail is bluish green with a broad dark blue subterminal band. The sexes are nearly alike; the female is slightly smaller and duller. Young birds are duller, with rufous feather edges.
Confusion species
Lesser Violetear Colibri cyanotus is clearly smaller, with a smaller violet ear patch that does not meet under the chin and no blue belly patch. White-vented Violetear Colibri serrirostris in Bolivia is smaller, with white undertail coverts and no blue belly patch. Brown Violetear Colibri delphinae is greyish brown.
Habitat
Semi-open landscapes in the Andes: forest edges, scrub, open woodland, páramo edges, farmland with hedgerows, gardens and parks, mostly between about 1200 and 3600 m, sometimes above 4000 m. It visits a wide range of flowers, including those of planted trees such as eucalyptus, and catches insects in flight. The nest is a small cup on a low, drooping 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 in all three cordilleras and in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. In Ecuador in the inter-Andean valleys and on both slopes. In Peru throughout the Andes, on both slopes and in the valleys. In Bolivia in the Andes and the valleys on the eastern side. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the Andes and coastal mountains of Venezuela, on the tepuis of Venezuela, Guyana and northern Brazil, and in north-western Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In almost every garden and park with flowering shrubs in Andean cities such as Bogotá, Quito and Cusco, and at lodge feeders. Listen for the rhythmic chip-chuk of a singing male.
Conservation status
Least Concern. It tolerates human-modified landscapes well and has benefited from gardens and plantations.
Scientific name
Colibri coruscans | (Gould, 1846)
Gould described the species in 1846 as Trochilus (Petasophora) coruscans; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Colibri was introduced in 1824 by Spix. The genus name is the French word colibri, 'hummingbird'; the further origin of that word is uncertain, possibly from a Caribbean language. The species name is Latin coruscans, 'flashing, glittering'. The specimen the first description was based on came from South America.