Nombre en español: Amazilia Coliazul
Nombre en ingles: Steely-vented Hummingbird
Nombre cientifico: Saucerottia saucerrottei
Familia: Trochilidae
El colibrí coliazul o amazilia verdiazul (Saucerottia saucerrottei) es un ave que se encuentra en el occidente de Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia y el noroccidente de Ecuador y Venezuela, en matorrales y arbustos de áreas secas, bordes de los bosques, cultivos y jardines, hasta los 2.000 m de altitud.
Descripción
Mide en promedio 8,9 cm de longitud. Pesa 4,5 g. La cabeza es verde brillante y la coloración del dorso se torna bronceada hasta hacerse bronce o cobriza atrás, en contraste con el azul oscuro de las plumas de la cola. El vientre es verde. Bajo la cola las coberteras son negro azulado con bordes blancos en los machos y grises a pardas con bordes blancos en las hembras. El pico mide 18 mm, con la parte superior negra, la inferir rosada o rojiza y la punta negruzca.
Comportamientos
Es intensamente territorial; cuida y defiende las diversas flores de las que se alimenta, especialmente de las lianas Combretum. Generalmente solitario, se le ve a veces tomando baño en grupo.
Reproducción
Su nido, construido con pelusa vegetal y telarañas, tiene forma de taza compacta y es colocado en ramas de árboles, entre los 2 y 7 m de altura.
Steely-vented hummingbird
The steely-vented hummingbird (Saucerottia saucerottei) is a medium-sized hummingbird that is a resident breeder from western Nicaragua to Costa Rica, and also in Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. The Central American birds differ in voice and behaviour from those in South America and may be a separate species, the blue-vented hummingbird (A. hoffmanni, syn. A. sophiae). Both forms are sometimes placed in the genus Saucerottia, but this is not recognized by most authorities, notably AOU and Howard & Moore.
This hummingbird inhabits open woodland such as second growth, coffee plantations, gardens, savanna, and the edges and gaps of evergreen forests. It occurs from sea level up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft).
The nest is a cup of plant down and cobwebs, decorated outside with lichen and placed on a small outside twig 2–7 m (6.6–23.0 ft) high in a small tree. The female alone incubates the two white eggs.
The steely-vented hummingbird is 9 cm (3.5 in) long and weighs 4.5 g (0.16 oz). It is mainly bronze-green above, becoming more bronze on the wing, lower back and rump, and has a blue-black tail. The male has glittering green underparts, white thighs and a blue vent. The female is duller green below and has grey-buff edges to the vent feathers. Young birds are dull dark bronze-green below.
The steely-vented hummingbird has a trilled descending chit call in South America, but the Blue-vented from Central America has a high sharp tsip. The male’s song in Costa Rica is a buzzy bzz WEEP wup.
This hummingbird feeds at many types of flowers, including epiphytes and Heliconias, and both sexes are aggressive and territorial, defending favoured areas.
