The Santa Marta blossomcrown (''Anthocephala floriceps'') is a

Vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved 27 May 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

''Anthocephala floriceps'' was originally called the blossomcrown and included what are now the Santa Marta blossomcrown and

Tolima blossomcrown The Tolima blossomcrown (''Anthocephala berlepschi'') is a Vulnerable species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to Colombia.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds o ...

(''Anthocephala berlepschi'') as subspecies. A study by Lozano-Jaramillo et al. published in 2014 found that the two differed greatly both genetically and in their climatic niches. The South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

and worldwide taxonomic systems soon adopted the split. The Santa Marta blossomcrown is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021

Description

The Santa Marta blossomcrown is about long. Both sexes have a straight black bill. The adult male has a buffy white forehead, a rufous chesnut hindcrown, mostly shining green upperparts, and a rusty lower back and uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

. Its underparts are grayish buff. Its tail is bronzy green with buffy tips to the feathers, and all but the central pair of feathers also have a black bar near the tip. Females and immatures are similar to the adult male but their whole crown is brownish.Züchner, T., E. de Juana, P. F. D. Boesman, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Santa Marta Blossomcrown (''Anthocephala floriceps''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.samblo1.01 retrieved August 5, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The Santa Marta blossomcrown is found only in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of northern Colombia. It inhabits humid primary forest and mature

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

between elevations of .

Behavior

Movement

The Santa Marta blossomcrown is assumed to be sedentary, but its possible seasonal elevational movements have not been studied.

Feeding

The Santa Marta blossomcrown typically forages low in the forest understory. Its diet has not been studied, and the only documented nectar source is flowering banana.

Breeding

The Santa Marta blossomcrown's breeding season apparently includes September and October. Males gather in

leks A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an avail ...

to court females. Nothing else is known about its breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

Vocalization

The Santa Marta blossomcrown's song is "a long series of repeated ''tsip'' notes".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the Santa Marta blossomcrown as Vulnerable. It has a very small range and its population of fewer than 2500 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. Much of its potential habitat has been cleared; what remains appears to be relatively stable though fragmented. Some of its remaining habitat is "at least nominally protected" in a national park and a foundation-owned preserve.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q772052

Santa Marta blossomcrown The Santa Marta blossomcrown (''Anthocephala floriceps'') is a Vulnerable species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of Colombia.HBW and BirdLife Internati ...

Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Endemic birds of Colombia

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot