The rufous-booted racket-tail (''Ocreatus addae'') 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 "brilliants", tribe

Heliantheini Heliantheini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae of the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe in the subfamily is Lesbiini. The informal name "brilliants" has been proposed for this group as it includes the ge ...

in subfamily Lesbiinae. 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

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 rufous-booted racket-tail, as defined by 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 ...

, is one of three species in genus ''Ocreatus''. However,

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) treats the taxon as one of eight subspecies of booted racket-tail (''O. underwoodii''). The IOC and Clements call ''underwoodii'' "

white-booted racket-tail The white-booted racket-tail (''Ocreatus underwoodii'') is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook ...

" and assign five subspecies to it. HBW splits the Peruvian population from ''O. underwoodii addae'' as ''O. underwoodii annae'', leaving the former as a Bolivian

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 ...

subspecies.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022 The South 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 ...

(SACC) follows the eight-subspecies model of booted racket-tail but has requested a proposal to elevate ''O. addae'', ''O. annae'', and another subspecies to species status.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 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022 The

specific epithet 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 ...

''addae'' honors Mrs. Adda Wilson.

Description

All racket-tails have pronounced

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. Only the male has elongated outer rectrices (tail feathers) that have bare shafts with terminal flags. On both the ''annae'' and ''addae'' racket-tails, those feathers are decurved and cross; the flags are asymmetric ellipses. Male rufous-booted racket-tails are long including the long outer tail feathers, and weigh . Females are long and weigh . Both sexes of ''annae'' and ''addae'' have greenish upperparts without a glittering forehead, both have a white spot behind the eye, and both have buff leg puffs. Males of ''annae'' have a greenish gray throat and a solid green belly. Their tail flags are dark bronzy purple. Females have a white throat and breast heavily spotted with green. Males of ''addae'' have a mostly white throat with some green and a white belly with green spots. Their tail flags are greenish black. Like ''annae'', females have a white throat and breast heavily spotted with green.Schuchmann, K.L. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Booted Racket-tail (''Ocreatus underwoodii''), 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.bortai1.01 retrieved 4 May 2022

Distribution and habitat

The ''annae'' rufous-booted racket-tail is found on the east slope of the Andes of central and southern Peru. The ''addae'' rufous-booted racket-tail is found on the east slope of the Bolivian Andes. The species favors the edges of humid to wet forest but is also found in the forest interior and in more open

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

. It is most numerous at elevations between but is found as low as and as high as .

Behavior

Movement

The rufous-booted racket-tail makes seasonal elevational movements after breeding.

Feeding

The rufous-booted racket-tail typically forages between above the ground. It takes nectar from a variety of plants such as those of genera ''Palicourea'', ''Clusia'', ''Inga'', and ''Cavendishia''. Often several birds will feed close together. In addition to feeding on nectar it captures small 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.

Breeding

The rufous-booted racket-tail's breeding season has not been studied but might include most of the year. It makes a tiny cup nest of plant fiber and lichen, typically on a horizontal twig above the ground. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for 16 to 17 days; fledging occurs 19 to 22 days after hatch.

Vocalization

Both male and female rufous-booted racket-tails give "a diagnostic, descending, thin sweet trill, 'ti-tlee-ee-ee' ndsingle 'tsit' and 'trrt' notes."

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 ...

follows HBW taxonomy and so recognizes only one species of ''Ocreatus'' as the booted racket-tail. It has assessed the species as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats are known. The racket-tail complex as a whole is very common and occurs in several protected areas.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q30693869 rufous-booted racket-tail Birds of the Peruvian Andes Birds of the Bolivian Andes rufous-booted racket-tail