The mountain avocetbill (''Opisthoprora euryptera'') 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. 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 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 27 May 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The mountain avocetbill is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies. It is closely related to the

hillstar The hillstars are hummingbirds of the genus ''Oreotrochilus''. They are native to the Andes in South America. The '' Urochroa'' hillstars are not closely related. Species list Their genus contains seven species: * Ecuadorian hillstar (''Oreotr ...

s (genus ''Oreotrochilus'') and trainbearers (genus ''Lesbia''). It was originally described in genus ''

Trochilus The streamertails are hummingbirds in the genus ''Trochilus'', that are endemic to Jamaica. It is the type genus of the family Trochilidae. Today most authorities consider the two taxa in this genus as separate species, but some (e.g. AOU) cont ...

'' which at that time included many species that have been reclassified.Schulenberg, T. S. (2020). Mountain Avocetbill (''Opisthoprora euryptera''), 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.mouavo1.01 retrieved February 22, 2022

Description

The mountain avocetbill is long; the few known weights are between . It has a short bill that turns up slightly at the tip. Adults have bronzy green upperparts with a prominent white spot behind the eye. The tail is notched; the central pair of feathers are bronzy green and the outer ones dark blue with thin whitish tips. The throat and breast are white and the flanks and belly rufous; all have dark green streaks.

Distribution and habitat

The mountain avocetbill is patchily distributed in Colombia's Central Andes, on the east slope of the Andes in Ecuador, and at a few locations on the east slope in northern Peru. It inhabits the interior, edges, and clearings of

elfin forest Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is an uncommon ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humi ...

and humid

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

and is often seen in roadside shrubbery. In elevation it ranges between in Colombia, mostly between but as low as in Ecuador, and between in Peru.

Behavior

Movement

The mountain avocetbill is sedentary throughout its range.

Feeding

The mountain avocetbill forages up to above the ground. It feeds on nectar both while hovering and by clinging to flowers; it sometimes "robs" nectar by piercing the base of a flower. Its diet is not known in detail, but it has been recorded feeding at flowers of the families Ericaceae, Onagraceae, Rubiaceae, Lobeliaceae, and Campanulaceae. It also feeds on small insects caught by sallies from a perch.

Breeding

The mountain avocetbill'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 believed to be

polygynous Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any ...

like most other hummingbirds.

Vocalization

The mountain avocetbil's vocalizations are not well known but do include "a series of descending thin whistles, reminiscent of a

piculet The piculets are a distinctive subfamily, Picumninae, of small woodpeckers which occur mainly in tropical South America, with just three Asian and one African species. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets have large heads, long tongues which the ...

: ''wsee wsee wsee wsee''."

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 mountain avocetbill as being of Least Concern. Though it has a small range, and its population size is not known, the latter is believed to be stable. It is perceived as rare and local to uncommon in different parts of its range. "Human activity has little short-term direct effect on Mountain Avocetbill".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q283461 Trochilinae Hummingbird species of South America Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Ecuadorian Andes Birds of the Peruvian Andes mountain avocetbill Taxonomy articles created by Polbot