The mangrove hummingbird (''Amazilia boucardi'') is an

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

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 "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is

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 ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Taxonomy

The mangrove hummingbird was formally described in 1877 by the French ornithologist

Étienne Mulsant Martial Étienne Mulsant (2 March 1797, Marnand, Rhône – 4 November 1880) was a French entomologist and ornithologist. Biography Initially employed in commerce, Mulsant wrote ''Lettres à Julie sur l'entomologie, suivies d'une description méth ...

from a specimen collected by

Adolphe Boucard Adolphe Boucard (1839 – 15 March 1905) was a French ornithologist and trader in specimens who collected extensively in Mexico and Central America. He lived in San Francisco between 1851 and 1852, at the height of the California Gold Rush. He con ...

near

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas (canton), Puntarenas canton of Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which is made from the Puntar ...

in Costa Rica. Mulsant placed the new species in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Arena'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Arena boucardi''. The mangrove hummingbird is now placed in the genus ''

Amazilia ''Amazilia'' is a hummingbird genus in the subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in tropical Central and South America. Taxonomy The genus ''Amazilia'' was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist René Lesson. Lesson had used ''amazilia'' i ...

'' that was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist

René Lesson René-Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. Biography Lesson was born at Rochefort, and entered the Naval Medical School in Rochefort at the age of sixteen. He ...

. The genus name comes from the Inca heroine in

Jean-François Marmontel Jean-François Marmontel (11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Biography He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin (today in Corrèze). After studying with th ...

's novel ''Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'Empire du Pérou''. The specific epithet was chosen to honour the collector Boucard. The species 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 ...

: no

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognised. Arinia Boucardi

Description

The mangrove hummingbird is long and weighs about . Both sexes have a medium length bill, slightly decurved, with a black

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 ...

and a reddish

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 ...

with a dusky tip. Adult males have golden to bronze-green upperparts and flanks. Their chin, throat, and breast are glittering bluish green with white bars near the end of the chin feathers. Their belly is whitish with bronze-green sides and their 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 ...

are white. The slightly forked tail is bronzy green; the outer feathers have blackish outer edges and tips. Adult females are similar to males, but with less green on the underparts and grayish tips on the outermost tail feathers. Immature birds resemble adult females but are more grayish below.Luther, D. (2020). Mangrove Hummingbird (''Amazilia boucardi''), 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.manhum1.01 retrieved September 10, 2022 One form of vocalization has been described in words as a "soft ''djt'' sound that is rapid and given in a descending twitter."

Distribution and habitat

The mangrove hummingbird is sedentary. It is found only on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It inhabits large stands of tea mangrove ''

Pelliciera rhizophorae ''Pelliciera rhizophorae'', known as the tea mangrove, is a less-common species of mangroves found along the Pacific coast from the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica to the Esmeraldas River in Ecuador, as well as within stands located in Nicaragua, Pa ...

'' and sometimes adjacent terrestrial second growth. Its distribution is not continuous.

Behavior

Feeding

The mangrove hummingbird forages for nectar, primarily at mangrove flowers. It has also been observed feeding at ''

Inga ''Inga'' is a genus of small tropical, tough-leaved, nitrogen-fixing treesElkan, Daniel. "Slash-and-burn farming has become a major threat to the world's rainforest" ''The Guardian'' 21 April 2004 and shrubs, subfamily Mimosoideae. ''Inga''s l ...

'', ''

Heliconia ''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...

'', and '' Maripa'' in a terrestrial forest clearing near mangroves. In addition to nectar it feeds on insects.

Breeding

The mangrove hummingbird's breeding season spans from October to February. It builds a cup nest of

balsa ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...

(''Ochroma pyramidale'') floss and other soft plant fibers bound with spiderweb and with lichens on the outside. It is usually placed on a mangrove twig between above the water. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs, but the incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

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 mangrove hummingbird as Threatened, then in 1994 as Vulnerable, and since 2000 as Endangered. It has a restricted range and habitat requirements. Its estimated population of between 1500 and 7000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. Its mangrove habitat is continuing to be destroyed for salt evaporation, shrimp farming, charcoal production, and human habitation. Though cutting mangroves is illegal in Costa Rica, the law is widely ignored. Road and dike construction has affected some areas by altering their hydrology. Pollution, especially from

on the

Golfo de Nicoya The Gulf of Nicoya ( es, Golfo de Nicoya) is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs. The first Spanish ...

, has also degraded mangrove stands. The species' habitat is protected in a few small reserves.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q303120

mangrove hummingbird The mangrove hummingbird (''Amazilia boucardi'') is an Endangered species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to Costa Rica. Taxonomy The mangrove hummingbird was formally described in 18 ...

Endemic birds of Costa Rica

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Étienne Mulsant