The dot-eared coquette (''Lophornis gouldii'') 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 "coquettes", tribe

Lesbiini Lesbiini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants). The informal name "coquettes" has been proposed for this group as the largest genus, ''L ...

of subfamily

Lesbiinae Lesbiinae is one of the six subfamily, subfamilies that make up the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The subfamily is divided into two Tribe (biology), tribes: Heliantheini ("brilliants") containing 14 genera and Lesbiini ("coqu ...

. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.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 May 27, 2021Remsen, 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 August 2021. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved August 24, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The dot-eared coquette 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 ...

Description

The dot-eared coquette is long and weighs . Both sexes have a short, straight, black-tipped red bill. The adult male's forehead is glittering golden green. Long dark rufous feathers on its crown form a crest. Its upperparts are bronzy green with a white band across the rump. Its throat is glittering emerald green. Long white feathers with shiny green dots make tufts that fan out and back on the cheeks. Its underparts are grayish green. Its central tail feathers are bronzy green and the rest rufous with bronzy green tips and edges. The adult female does not have the male's crest or cheek tufts. Its upperparts are colored like the male's but with a bronzy iridescence. Its throat is rufous with a grayish green lower border. Its tail is bronze with rufous tips. Juveniles are similar to the adult female.Züchner, T., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Dot-eared Coquette (''Lophornis gouldii''), version 1.0. 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.doecoq1.01 retrieved January 24, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The dot-eared coquette is found primarily in Brazil, from the mouth of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

south and west to

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

and

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

. It has been recorded as a vagrant in Bolivia's Santa Cruz department. It inhabits semi-open to open landscapes such as forest edges, savanna, and ''

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

'' from sea level up to about of elevation.

Behavior

Movement

The dot-eared coquette is believed to be sedentary.

Feeding

The dot-eared coquette is a " trap-line" feeder, visiting a circuit of flowering plants for nectar. Details of its diet are not known.

Breeding

The dot-eared coquette's breeding season spans from December to April. Its nest has not been described. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for about 14 days; fledging is about 22 days after hatch.

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The dot-eared coquette is mostly silent. It gives "a short 'tsip'" when feeding. Its wings make "a low bee-like humming" when hovering.

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 ...

originally assessed the dot-eared coquette in 2000 as being of Least Concern. The rating was changed to Vulnerable in 2012 and to Near Threatened in 2021. Its population is estimated at between 28,000 and 376,000 mature individuals. The population is projected to decline as much as 29% by 2031 due to continued deforestation and the planned construction of hydroelectric dams.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q901916 dot-eared coquette Birds of Brazil dot-eared coquette Taxa named by René Lesson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot