The chestnut-breasted coronet (''Boissonneaua matthewsii'') is a species of

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 "brilliants", tribe

Heliantheini Heliantheini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae of the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe in the subfamily is Lesbiini. The informal name "brilliants" has been proposed for this group as it includes the ge ...

in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in

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 ...

, Ecuador, and Peru.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

The chestnut-breasted coronet shares genus ''Boissonneaua'' with two other coronets, the buff-tailed (''B. flavescens'') and velvet-purple (''B. jardini''). It is monotypic.

Description

The chestnut-breasted coronet is long and weighs about . Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill, a white spot behind the eye, and a notched tail. Males have metallic green upperparts. Their throat has yellowish green speckles on a buff base and the rest of the underparts are reddish chestnut with some green speckles on the flanks. The central tail feathers are bronzy and the rest reddish chestnut with bronzy tips. The female's plumage is almost identical, but with somewhat paler underparts and less speckling on the throat.Schulenberg, T. S. (2020). Chestnut-breasted Coronet (''Boissonneaua matthewsii''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chbcor1.01 retrieved 4 May 2022

Distribution and habitat

The chestnut-breasted coronet is found from extreme southeastern Colombia south along the east slope of the Andes through Ecuador and Peru as far as Cuzco Department. It also occurs on the west slope of the Andes from central Ecuador into northwestern Peru. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid montane forest and also gardens near the forest. In elevation it ranges between in Ecuador, though is most numerous between . In Peru it occurs between .

Behavior

Movement

The chestnut-breasted coronet's movements, if any, have not been documented.

Feeding

The chestnut-breasted coronet is highly territorial and defends clusters of flowers from other nectar-feeding birds. It typically forages from the mid-story to the canopy. It feeds by clinging to the flower, holding its wings open for a second or two after landing. In addition to feeding on nectar it captures small insects by

hawking Hawking may refer to: People * Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist *Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name) Film * ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Haw ...

from a perch.

Breeding

The chestnut-breasted coronet's 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 ...

has not been described. It is assumed to make a cup nest like other closely related hummingbirds.

Vocalization

One description of chestnut-breasted coronet vocalizations is "a high, thin, liquid ''tip'', a rapid, sweet trill, and various squeaky 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 chestnut-breasted coronet as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, but its population size and trend are not known. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered uncommon to fairly common in Ecuador and uncommon to common in Peru. "Human activity has little short-term direct effect on Chestnut-breasted Coronet, other than the local effects of habitat destruction".

References

External links

Photo-Medium Res
chandra.as.utexas.edu

VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q1260811 chestnut-breasted coronet Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Birds of the Peruvian Andes chestnut-breasted coronet chestnut-breasted coronet Taxonomy articles created by Polbot