The flame-throated sunangel or little sunangel (''Heliangelus micraster'') 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

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

.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, 2021Clements, 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

Taxonomy and systematics

The flame-throated sunangel has been considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with the gorgeted sunangel (''H. exortis'').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 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021 It has two subspecies, the nominate ''H. m. micraster'' and ''H. m. cutervensis''. Heliangelus micraster

Description

The flame-throated sunangel is long and weighs . Its straight bill is blackish. Both sexes have dark metallic green upperparts. Their lower breasts are dark metallic green, their bellies grayish, and their vent areas almost white. Their tails are dark steel blue. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a glittering blue-green frontlet just above the bill, a dark purplish blue chin, and an iridescent yellow-orange

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the thro ...

with a glittering emerald green border. Adult females lack the blue-green frontlet, their chin is blackish, and their throat is white with green to dusky gray speckles and sometimes a few iridescent reddish orange discs. Juveniles are like the adult female but the male does not have the blackish chin. Males of subspecies ''H. m. cutervensis'' have a reddish orange gorget.Heynen, I. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Little Sunangel (''Heliangelus micraster''), 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.litsun1.01 retrieved January 21, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of flame-throated sunangel is found on the eastern slope of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

from Ecuador's

Morona-Santiago Province Morona Santiago () is a province in Ecuador. The province was established on February 24, 1954. The capital is Macas. Economy The provincial economy is industrially unexploited to its potential due to poor means of transportation. Its economy ...

into northern Peru. ''H. m. cutervensis'' is found in Peru's

Department of Cajamarca Cajamarca (; qu, Kashamarka; ay, Qajamarka) is a department and region in Peru. The capital is the city of Cajamarca. It is located in the north part of the country and shares a border with Ecuador. The city has an elevation of above sea le ...

. The species inhabits the interior and borders of dense mossy forest. In elevation it mostly ranges between but has been recorded as low as .

Behavior

Movement

The flame-throated sunangel is mostly sedentary but disperses altitundinally after the nesting season.

Feeding

The flame-throated sunangel defends foraging areas. It mostly feeds on nectar, usually at flowers at low to medium heights above the ground, within the forest and on its borders. Females often venture further into bushy pastures. It usually clings to flowers to feed rather than hovering at them. It also captures 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 and by gleaning from vegetation.

Breeding

The flame-throated sunangel's breeding season spans from January to May in Ecuador but has not been defined in Peru. The clutch of two white eggs is incubated by the female. Nothing else is known about the species' 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 flame-throated sunangel's call is "a repeated dry 'djit' or more gravelly 'drrt'."

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 flame-throated sunangel as being of Least Concern, although its population size and trend are not known. The species is locally common but generally uncommon.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q617424 Heliangelus Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Birds of the Peruvian Andes flame-throated sunangel Taxonomy articles created by Polbot