Mérida sunangel

The Mérida sunangel (Heliangelus spencei) is a hummingbird endemic to Venezuela.[2] It is closely related to the amethyst-throated sunangel, and species limits in this complex are unclear. The American Ornithological Society has not recognized the split from it.

Merida sunangel

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Heliangelus
Species:
H. spencei
Binomial name
Heliangelus spencei
Bourcier, 1847
Synonyms

Heliangelus amethysticollis spencei

Distribution and taxonomy

Following the Handbook of the Birds of the World,[3] the Mérida sunangel is one of the four subspecies of the amethyst-throated sunangel: H. c. clarisse in the Colombian Andes from Norte de Santander to the latitude of Bogotá; violiceps in the Sierra de Perijá (only in Zulia in Venezuela); H. c. verdiscutus in southeastern Norte de Santander, Colombia, and southern Táchira, Venezuela; and H. c. spencei isolated in Mérida, Venezuela.[2][4]

Originally spencei was described as a separate species and the other three species were considered subspecies of the amethyst-throated sunangel, whose undoubted populations live in Ecuador and Peru. Other arrangements have been suggested, but most authorities lump all of these groups with the amethyst-throated.[1] A review by the American Ornithologists' Union's South American Check-list Committee stated that the situation is unclear and any decision is arbitrary until more data are available. Some taxonomic authorities, including the IOC, continue to split both the Mérida sunangel and Longuemare's sunangel.

Description

This bird is 9.4 cm (3.7 in) long (not including the bill) and weighs 5.3 grams, on average. The bill is short for a hummingbird—1.8 cm or 0.7 in long. The overall impression is of dark plumage.[2]

Males are dark green above except that the crown is velvety black. They have a narrow, glittering blue "frontlet" above the bill. Behind the eye is a bold white spot. They have a glittering pinkish-purple throat above a white crescent crossing the chest, which in turn has a shining green lower border. The rest of the breast and belly is shining dark green mixed with gray. The undertail coverts are buff. The tail is long and broad, bronze-green to blackish, with tiny white tips on the two outer feathers. Females resemble males but are duller, and white feather bases may show in the throat.[2][4]

Vocalizations are little-known. Foraging individuals give a "short, low-pitched, cricketlike trill" very similar to a call of the orange-throated sunangel.[2]

Habitat

It inhabits forest interiors[2] and damp ravines with bushes;[4] Its altitude range is 1800 to 3100 meters.[2]

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References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Heliangelus spencei". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2016: e.T60860042A95164382. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T60860042A95164382.en. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  2. Hilty, Steven L. (2003), Birds of Venezuela, Princeton University Press, p. 426, ISBN 0-691-09250-8
  3. Schuchmann, K. L. (1999), "Family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds)", in del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal J. (eds.), Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 468–680, ISBN 84-87334-25-3
  4. Hilty, Steven L.; Brown, William L. (1986), A Guide to the Birds of Colombia, Princeton University Press, p. 66, ISBN 0-691-08371-1, retrieved 2007-10-06
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