The Tolima blossomcrown (''Anthocephala berlepschi'') is a

Vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

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 ...

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 ...

.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 Tolima blossomcrown was originally treated as a subspecies of what was then the blossomcrown (''Anthocephala floriceps''), that also included what is now the Santa Marta blossomcrown. A study by Lozano-Jaramillo et al. published in 2014 found that the two differed greatly both genetically and in their climatic niches. 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 ...

and worldwide taxonomic systems soon adopted the split; the Santa Marta blossomcrown retained the "parent's" binomial ''A. floriceps''. The Tolima blossomcrown 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 ...

.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, 2022Clements, 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

Description

The Tolima blossomcrown is about long. Both sexes have a straight black bill. The adult male has a buffy white forehead, a rufous chesnut hindcrown, mostly shining green upperparts, and a rusty lower back and uppertail

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 ...

. Its underparts are grayish buff. Its tail is bronzy green with wide white tips to the feathers, and all but the central pair of feathers also have a black bar near the tip. Females and immatures are similar to the adult male but their whole crown is brownish.Züchner, T., E. de Juana, P. F. D. Boesman, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Tolima Blossomcrown (''Anthocephala berlepschi''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tolblo1.01 retrieved August 5, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The Tolima blossomcrown is found in Colombia's upper Magdalena River Valley where it flows through Cauca, northern Huila, Tolima, and Quindío departments. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid primary forest and mature

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. ...

between elevations of .

Behavior

Movement

The Tolima blossomcrown is assumed to be sedentary, but its possible seasonal elevational movements have not been studied.

Feeding

The Tolima blossomcrown's foraging strategy and diet have not been studied. It is believed to forage low in the forest understory like the Santa Marta blossomcrown.

Breeding

The Tolima blossomcrown'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 studied.

Vocalization

The Tolima blossomcrown's song is "a long series of repeated ''tsip'' 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 ...

has assessed the Tolima blossomcrown as Vulnerable. It has a small range and its population of fewer than 4500 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. Much of its former habitat has been cleared for agriculture, and remaining forest is fragmented. It does occur in two national parks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20020647 Tolima blossomcrown Birds of the Colombian Andes Endemic birds of Colombia Tolima blossomcrown Tolima blossomcrown