Picudo Buchiazul
Blue-tufted Starthroat
Heliomaster furcifer
Song
Blue-tufted Starthroat
Appearance: The Blue-tufted Starthroat is a fairly large hummingbird, about 12.5–13 cm long. It has a long, slightly curved black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. The male has green to coppery-green upperparts, a glittering violet throat, blue or ultramarine feathers on the sides of the neck and breast, and a forked dark green to blue-green tail. The female is duller, with coppery-green upperparts, grayish throat and underparts, a pale line down the belly, and white-tipped outer tail feathers.
Habitat: It favors open and semi-open habitats, including forest edges, dry and moist lowland forest borders, savanna, cerrado, grasslands, gardens, and flowering scrub. In Colombia it is associated mostly with lowland open or edge habitats with flowering plants.
Behavior: It feeds mainly on nectar from many kinds of flowers and also catches small insects in flight. Males may defend rich flower patches. It usually forages a few meters above the ground, often around shrubs, flowering trees, or forest-edge vegetation.
Breeding: The breeding season is reported mainly from November to March in its core South American range. The female builds a small cup nest of soft fibers and lichens, usually several meters above the ground. The clutch is normally two eggs; incubation lasts about 15–16 days, and young fledge after about 20–25 days.
Conservation Status: The Blue-tufted Starthroat is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
MALE
FEMALE
Distribution
The Blue-tufted Starthroat is rare and very local, not a widespread Colombian hummingbird. It is listed as present in Colombia, but the species’ main range is farther south and east, especially Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina, and Uruguay. Colombian records appear to be outside the core range and may represent local occurrence, vagrancy, or dispersal.
Taxonomy
The Blue-tufted Starthroat (Heliomaster furcifer)
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves (Birds)
- Order: Caprimulgiformes
- Family: Trochilidae
- Genus: Heliomaster
- Species: furcifer
Vocalization
Main Call: A clear, descending, whistled “tseep” or “tseeep” note. This is the best-described vocal sound for the species. It does not appear to have a conventional song.
Flight Call: Recordings are classified as call and flight call, suggesting it may give sharp or whistled notes while flying between flowers or moving through open habitat.
Display Calls: Some recordings are labeled as song, but published descriptions still indicate that it lacks a well-developed, conventional song.
Territorial Call: Males defend flower patches, so they may use short calls during chases or disputes around nectar sources, but detailed descriptions are limited.
