- Magnificent Hummingbird
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Magnificent Hummingbird Male Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Apodiformes Family: Trochilidae Genus: Eugenes
Gould, 1856Species: E. fulgens Binomial name Eugenes fulgens
(Swainson, 1827)The Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens) is a large hummingbird that breeds in mountains from the southwestern United States to western Panama. It is the only member of the genus Eugenes, although the northern, nominate subspecies E. fulgens fulgens has on occasion been separated from the larger, southern race of Costa Rica and Panama, E. fulgens spectabilis,[2] as Rivoli's Hummingbird.
This bird inhabits the edges and clearings of montane oak forests from about 2000 meters to the timberline. It is 13 centimeters long. The male weighs 10 grams and the female 8.5. The black bill is long and straight to slightly curved. Both sexes look very dark unless the sun catches the iridescence of the plumage and the brilliant colors flash in the sunlight.
The adult male is green-bronze dorsally, becoming more bronzed on the black-tipped tail. The crown is violet, the throat gorget bright blue-green, and the rest of the head black apart from a white spot behind the eye. The chest is green-bronze and the belly greyish.
The female Magnificent Hummingbird is bronze-green dorsally and has a dull grey ventral coloring. There is a white stripe behind her eye. Immature birds are like the female, but darker and browner.
The female is entirely responsible for nest building and incubation. She lays two white eggs in her bulky cup nest about 3 meters up near the tip of a descending branch stem. Incubation takes 15–19 days, and fledging another 20–26.
The food of this species is nectar, taken from a variety of flowers, and some small insects. Magnificent Hummingbird males perch conspicuously and defend their feeding territories aggressively. The call of this species is a guttural drrrk.
References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Eugenes fulgens. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ^ Powers, Donald R. (1996). "Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens)". In Poole, A. The Birds of North America Online. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bna.221. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/221. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- Stiles, F. Gary; and Alexander F. Skutch. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica, 1995. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
External links
- Magnificent Hummingbird videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Magnificent Hummingbird photos South Dakota Birds and Birding
- Photo (high resolution); Article - borderland-tours
Categories:- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Trochilinae
- Birds of Mexico
- Birds of the United States
- Native birds of the Southwestern United States
- Birds of Guatemala
- Birds of El Salvador
- Birds of Honduras
- Birds of Nicaragua
- Birds of Costa Rica
- Birds of Panama
- Monotypic bird genera
- Western North American migratory birds
- Hummingbird species of Central America
- Animals described in 1827
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