The Cuban emerald (''Riccordia ricordii'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 is found in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Cuban emerald was formerly placed in the genus ''

Chlorostilbon ''Chlorostilbon'' is a genus of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae, known as emeralds (as are some hummingbirds in the genera ''Amazilia'' and '' Elvira''). A single species, the blue-chinned sapphire is variously placed in the monotypic gen ...

''. Based on a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014 and a 2017 publication, the North 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 ...

, the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC), and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

moved it to the resurrected genus ''

Riccordia ''Riccordia'' is a genus of birds in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. They are endemic to the Caribbean. Species The species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus ''Chlorostilbon''. A molecular phylogenetic study publish ...

''.Clements, 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 However, as of 2020

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

(HBW) retained it in ''Chlorostilbon''. The Cuban emerald 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 ...

. However, the extinct

Brace's emerald Brace's emerald (''Riccordia bracei'') is an extinct species of hummingbird which was endemic to the main island of the Bahamas, New Providence. Description Its size was 9.5 cm, the wing length 11.4 cm and length of the tail 2.7 c ...

(''R. bracei'') was at one time treated as a subspecies of it.Bündgen, R. and G. M. Kirwan (2021). Cuban Emerald (''Riccordia ricordii''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.cubeme1.01.1 retrieved July 29, 2022

Description

Male Cuban emeralds are long and females . The species weighs between . Males have a short, slightly decurved, black-tipped bill whose

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

is dull black and the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

red. It has a small whitish spot behind the eye. Its upperparts are dark shining green with a bronze tinge; the crown is darker and duller. Its underparts are mostly iridescent metallic green with white undertail

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 ...

. The tail is deeply forked. Its innermost four pairs of feathers are dark metallic bronze to greenish bronze and the outermost pair similar with dark brown inner webs. Female's upperparts are similar to the male's. It has a longer whitish spot behind the eye. The underparts are mostly brownish gray with metallic green flanks and white undertail coverts. The tail is less forked than the male's but colored similarly.

Distribution and habitat

The Cuban emerald is found on the main island of Cuba, the large

Isla de la Juventud Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Islan ...

(Isle of Pines), and several smaller offshore cays. It is also found on

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, with the town of West End located east of Palm Beach, Florida. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is ...

Great Abaco Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Andros Andros ( el, Άνδρος, ) is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many fr ...

, and

Green Cay Green Cay is an uninhabited island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. It sits between the eastern tip of Little Jost Van Dyke and Tortola. It is in area. Environment The island, with its surrounding waters, has been designated a ...

and occasionally as a stray on other islands in the Bahamas. It inhabits a variety of wooded habitats. On mainland Cuba it mostly occurs in both arid and humid open forest and on Grand Bahama in pine woods and coastal scrub forest. It also occurs in parks, gardens, and plantations. In elevation it ranges from sea level to at least but there are records at almost on Cuba.

Behavior

Movement

The Cuban emerald is generally sedentary but makes some local elevational dispersal. It has been reported as a

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

in Florida at least 14 times but the AOS considers the records "unsubstantiated" and it is not on the official Florida state list.

Feeding

The Cuban emerald forages for nectar at a variety of flowering trees and shrubs, generally staying below about of the ground. It also feeds on small insects captured 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 and sometimes by gleaning from spider webs.

Breeding

The Cuban emerald can breed at any time of the year, but is thought to do so in Cuba mainly between April and July. It makes a cup nest of plant fiber, moss, and bark woven together with spider web and often covered with lichen and bits of bark. It places the nest in a fork, usually between above the ground. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for 15 to 16 days and fledging occurs 19 to 22 days after hatch.

Vocalization

The male Cuban emerald's high-pitched song is "a rapid rolling series of 'slee' notes and sputtering metallic sounds". Females give a "high-pitched 'seeeee' flight call". They also make "a buzzy 'zzzir'" and "chi-di-dit" calls.

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 Cuban emerald as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are not known. It does have a large range and no immediate threats have been identified. It is considered common in most of its range and readily uses human-made habitat.