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Ruby-topaz Hummingbird | Chrysolampis mosquitus
Muskietkolibrie | Colibrí rubí-topacio
The Ruby-topaz Hummingbird is a small hummingbird of dry, open country, found in the region on the ABC islands and in Trinidad and Tobago. In poor light the male looks dark, but at the right angle it shows a fiery red crown and a golden-orange throat. The species moves within its range and in Trinidad and Tobago is present mainly in the dry season.
Voice
Usually quiet. The call is a soft, short tsip. The song, often from a high perch, is a repeated doubled tlee…tlee…tlee.
Recording: Jacob Wijpkema — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
8–9.5 cm, with a short, straight black bill. The male is dark brown with an olive gloss, has a glittering ruby-red crown and nape and a throat and breast that flash golden-orange or sometimes green; the belly is brown. The tail is chestnut with black tips. The female is bronze-green above and pale grey below; the outer tail feathers are chestnut with a dark band and a white tip, the central ones olive-green. In Trinidad and Tobago females sometimes show a greenish stripe on the throat. Young males resemble the female, with a variable amount of orange on the throat.
Confusion species
A male in good light cannot be confused with any other hummingbird in the region; in shade it looks like a small dark hummingbird with a rufous tail. On the ABC islands Blue-tailed Emerald Chlorostilbon mellisugus is the only other resident hummingbird; its female has a dark ear patch with a white stripe above and a blue-black tail without chestnut. Female Tufted Coquette Lophornis ornatus in Trinidad has a rufous forehead and a pale band across the rump. Mangos, such as Black-throated Mango Anthracothorax nigricollis, are much larger, with a curved bill.
Habitat
Dry, open country: cactus and thorn scrub, dry forest and its edges, coastal scrub, savanna and shrubby slopes, as well as gardens, yards and fruit plantations. Mainly in the lowlands. It feeds at flowering shrubs, trees and cacti; males defend feeding territories. It catches small insects and spiders in flight and gleans them from leaves.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
On Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire a year-round resident, widespread on all three islands and fairly common in gardens and scrub. In Trinidad and Tobago common from December to July, with most records from January to April; largely absent from August to November. Outside the region from eastern Panama through Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas to eastern Bolivia and Brazil.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Tobago in the dry season often at flowering shrubs and feeders along the north-east coast and around Speyside; in Trinidad in gardens and at hummingbird feeders. On the ABC islands in gardens and at flowering shrubs and cacti. A male is best seen when it turns with the sun behind the observer: crown and throat then flash briefly.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Widespread and common in many areas; the species makes good use of gardens and other man-made habitats.
Scientific name
Chrysolampis mosquitus | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Trochilus Mosquitus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chrysolampis was introduced in 1831 by Boie. Chrysolampis is Greek, from khrusos 'gold' and lampis 'lamp, torch', after the fiery glittering throat and crown. mosquitus is a Latinized form of Spanish mosquito 'little fly', after the bird's tiny size. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname (substituted for the erroneous 'Indies').