The white-booted racket-tail (''Ocreatus underwoodii'') 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
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
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
[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 white-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 ...
, has five subspecies. They both include two more species in genus ''Ocreatus'', the
Peruvian racket-tail
The Peruvian racket-tail (''Ocreatus peruanus'') is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the W ...
(''O. peruanus'') and the
Rufous-booted racket-tail
The rufous-booted racket-tail (''Ocreatus addae'') is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Bolivia and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the ...
(''O. addae'').
[ 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 ...
's 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) assigns the name "booted racket-tail" to ''O. underwoodii'' and includes those two taxa as subspecies of it. HBW also includes an eighth subspecies, ''O. u. annae''.[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 but has requested a proposal to elevate ''puruanus'', ''addae'', and ''annae'' 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 five subspecies recognized by the IOC are:[
*''O. u. polystictus'' ]Todd
Todd or Todds may refer to:
Places
;Australia:
* Todd River, an ephemeral river
;United States:
* Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community
* Todd, Missouri, a ghost town
* Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...
(1942)
*''O. u. discifer'' Heine
Heine is both a surname and a given name of German origin. People with that name include:
People with the surname
* Albert Heine (1867–1949), German actor
* Alice Heine (1858–1925), American-born princess of Monaco
* Armand Heine (1818–1883) ...
(1863)
*''O. u. underwoodii'' Lesson (1832)
*''O. u. incommodus'' Kleinschmidt (1943)
*''O. u. melanantherus'' Jardine
Jardine is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Al Jardine (born 1942), member of the Beach Boys
* Alexander Jardine (Medal of Honor) (1874–1949), American Medal of Honor recipient
* Antonio Jardine (born 1988), NCAA college bas ...
(1851)
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). These tail feathers have bare shafts with long terminal oval flags. In all five subspecies of white-booted racket-tail those feathers are straight and do not cross; the flags slightly overlap. Both sexes of all have greenish upperparts without a glittering forehead, and all have white leg puffs. Males have a greenish gray throat and a solid green belly. Male white-booted racket-tails are long including the long outer tail feathers, and weigh . Females are long and weigh .[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]
The subspecies of male white-booted racket-tails differ in the color and shape of the tail flags; females differ in the pattern of green spots on their white throat and belly. These differences are:[
*''O. u. polystictus'' (male) bluish black oval flags, (female) heavily spotted
*''O. u. discifer'' (male) bluish to turquoise-black oval flags, (female) medium density of fine spots
*''O. u. underwoodii'' (male) bluish to turquoise-black oval flags, (female) medium spotted
*''O. u. incommodus'' (male) bluish black oval flags, (female) medium to scarcely spotted
*''O. u. melanantherus'' (male) bluish black oval to round flags, (female) unspotted
]
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of white-booted racket-tail are found thus:[
*''O. u. polystictus'', the ]Venezuelan Coastal Range
The Venezuelan Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa or ), also known as Venezuelan Caribbean Mountain System ( es, Sistema Montañoso Caribe) is a mountain range system and one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela, that runs along the c ...
between Carabobo
, anthem = '' Himno del Estado Carabobo''
, image_map = Carabobo in Venezuela.svg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Location within Venezuela
, pushpin_map =
, pushpin_map_ ...
and Miranda states
*''O. u. discifer'', northwestern Venezuela and adjoining northern Colombia
*''O. u. underwoodii'', Colombia's Eastern Andes
*''O. u. incommodus'', Colombia's Central and Western Andes
*''O. u. melanantherus'', the Andean Pacific slope from Colombia's Nariño Department to southwestern Ecuador
The white-booted racket-tail inhabits the temperate and subtropical Andes. It 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 white-booted racket-tail makes seasonal elevational movements after breeding.[
]
Feeding
The white-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 white-booted racket-tail breeds at least between January and April in Colombia but probably breeds at any time during 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 white-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.[ It is a very common species and occurs in several protected areas.][
]
References
External links
* BirdLife International.
Birds of Ecuador.
University of Texas Astronomy.
VIREO.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1077059
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 ...
Birds of the Northern Andes
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 ...
Taxa named by René Lesson