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Violet-fronted Brilliant | Heliodoxa leadbeateri
Violetborstbriljantkolibrie | Brillante frentivioleta | Brilhante-de-testa-violeta
The Violet-fronted Brilliant is a dark brilliant of montane forest on the eastern slope of the Andes, from Venezuela to Bolivia. The male has a glittering violet-blue forehead and a glittering green throat; the name refers to the forehead. The species feeds in the lower strata of the forest and also comes to feeders.
Voice
A continuous series of strident single chup or tchep notes; also a repeated, bright, descending phrase like a jerky twitter.
Recording: Lelis Navarrete — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
11–13 cm, with a straight black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. The male is bronzy green above, with a glittering violet-blue forehead and a glittering emerald throat; the breast and belly are dull bronzy green. The tail is forked and largely steel blue, with bronzy green central feathers. The female has a glittering green forehead and white underparts, tinged buff on the belly, with dense green spotting on the throat and breast; the tail feathers have white tips.
Confusion species
Green-crowned Brilliant Heliodoxa jacula has a green crown and a small violet-blue throat patch in the male, and meets this species only in the Eastern Andes of Colombia. Black-throated Brilliant Heliodoxa schreibersii is darker, with a black throat and a longer tail, and lives lower. Pink-throated Brilliant Heliodoxa gularis and Fawn-breasted Brilliant Heliodoxa rubinoides have a pink throat patch and a paler tail. Females can be told from females of related species by the green forehead and white tail tips.
Habitat
The interior and edges of humid foothill forest and cloud forest, also scrub, clearings, secondary forest and coffee plantations, roughly between 400 and 2400 m, mostly between 900 and 2000 m. It feeds in the lower and middle strata at flowers and catches small insects.
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 the Eastern Andes and the Serranía de Perijá. In Ecuador on the eastern slope of the Andes. In Peru along the eastern slope over the whole length of the country. In Bolivia on the eastern slope south to Cochabamba. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the coastal mountains of Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
At lodge feeders on the eastern slope, for example along the Manu road in Peru and on the eastern slope in Ecuador, and at flowering shrubs along forest edges.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is widespread and tolerates some disturbance, but depends on forest on the slopes.
Scientific name
Heliodoxa leadbeateri | (Bourcier, 1843)
Bourcier described the species in 1843 as Trochilus Leadbeateri; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Heliodoxa was introduced in 1850 by Gould. The genus name combines Greek hēlios, 'sun', with doxa, 'glory' or 'splendour'. The species name honours Benjamin Leadbeater (1773–1837), a British natural history dealer in London. The specimen the first description was based on came from Caracas, Venezuela.