Esmeralda Cobriza
Coppery Emerald
Chlorostilbon russatus
Song
Coppery Emerald
Appearance: The Coppery Emerald is a very small hummingbird, about 8–9 cm long. The male is mostly metallic green but with a strong coppery or bronzy sheen, especially on the back and tail, which helps separate it from greener emeralds. The female is duller, brownish or grayish below with green above and a coppery wash. Both sexes look more bronzy than many other Chlorostilbon emeralds.
Habitat: It inhabits semi-open and open habitats, especially scrublands, forest edges, shrubby forest borders, cultivated areas, overgrown roadsides, plantations, parks, and degraded former forest. It also uses subtropical or tropical moist montane forest edges. It is reported from sea level up to about 2,500–2,600 m, but is often most common at middle elevations.
Behavior: The Coppery Emerald feeds mainly on nectar and also takes small insects. It often uses a trap-lining strategy, visiting a regular circuit of flowers instead of staying at one flower patch. It commonly forages about 4–6 m above the ground and takes insects by hawking from a perch or by gleaning from vegetation. It is generally sedentary, but may make seasonal elevational movements.
Breeding: Breeding has been recorded in May and June. The nest is a small cup lined with soft plant down and usually placed on a sloping branch, sometimes less than 1 m above the ground. The female lays two eggs, incubates them for about 15–16 days, and the young fledge about 20 days after hatching.
Conservation Status: The Coppery Emerald is listed as Least Concern.
MALE
FEMALE
Distribution
The Coppery Emerald is found mainly in northern and northeastern Colombia. Its Colombian range includes the lower Magdalena River Valley, the Santa Marta region in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and the Serranía del Perijá.
Taxonomy
The Coppery Emerald (Chlorostilbon russatus)
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves (Birds)
- Order: Caprimulgiformes
- Family: Trochilidae
- Genus: Chlorostilbon
- Species: russatus
Vocalization
Contact Call: The contact call is a short, sharp, high note, often sounding like “tsik” or “trk.” It is probably used while the bird moves between perches, forest edges, shrubs, gardens, or cultivated areas. The sound is brief, dry, and insect-like.
Feeding Call: The feeding call is the best-described vocalization of this species. While feeding, it gives a repeated short “tsik” or “trk.” These notes are thin and dry, and may be heard as the bird moves along a trap-line from flower to flower.
Aggressive Call: During chases, the call may become a faster series of high, dry chips, like “tsik-tsik-tsik-tsik!” The notes are probably rapid, squeaky, and sharp, matching the quick movements of a small emerald hummingbird in open or shrubby habitat.
Territorial Call: Around nectar sources, the Coppery Emerald may give sharper repeated “tsik-tsik-tsik” or “trk-trk” notes when another hummingbird approaches. This call is likely a more forceful version of the feeding/contact note, used during brief disputes over flowers.
