The hillstars are hummingbirds of the genus ''Oreotrochilus''. They are native to the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. The '' Urochroa'' hillstars are not closely related.

Species list

Their genus contains seven species: *

Ecuadorian hillstar The Ecuadorian hillstar or Chimborazo hillstar (''Oreotrochilus chimborazo'') is a species of hummingbird. It is native to the Andes of Ecuador and extreme southern Colombia. Its main habitat type is high-altitude mountain grassland between 3500 ...

(''Oreotrochilus chimborazo'') *

Andean hillstar The Andean hillstar (''Oreotrochilus estella'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Bi ...

(''Oreotrochilus estella'') *

Green-headed hillstar The green-headed hillstar (''Oreotrochilus stolzmanni'') is a species of hummingbird found in the Andes of southern Ecuador and northern and central Peru.Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 5, J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Bar ...

(''Oreotrochilus stolzmanni'') *

White-sided hillstar The white-sided hillstar (''Oreotrochilus leucopleurus'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Bi ...

(''Oreotrochilus leucopleurus'') *

Black-breasted hillstar The black-breasted hillstar (''Oreotrochilus melanogaster'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is endemic to Peru.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the Worl ...

(''Oreotrochilus melanogaster'') *

Wedge-tailed hillstar The wedge-tailed hillstar (''Oreotrochilus adela'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Argentina and Bolivia.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the ...

(''Oreotrochilus adela'') *

Blue-throated hillstar The blue-throated hillstar (''Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus'') is a hummingbird found only in a small portion of the southwestern Andes in Ecuador. It was discovered in 2017. Taxonomy and evolution The species name "cyanolaemus" is based on the Lat ...

(''Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus'')

Description

The birds are approximately in length with fairly long, slightly decurved black bills. They are

sexually dimorphic 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 ...

. The male usually has an iridescent green throat, or bluish-purple in the Ecuadorian hillstar, with dull greenish upperparts and pale flanks. The central underparts are usually black, but are brown in the Andean hillstar. The tail is usually dark with a contrasting white pattern; the pattern is cinnamon in the wedge-tailed hillstar, and the tail is entirely dark in the black-breasted hillstar. The female is duller, with a whitish throat densely spotted with green, white,

buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional ...

, or cinnamon underparts, and a dark tail with a white pattern.

Behaviour

These highly

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

hummingbirds are found in temperate and

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

grassland, scrub and woodland at altitudes of . The Ecuadorian hillstar has been observed nesting at high altitudes on the cliffs of

Cotopaxi Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located in Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching a h ...

. This species is known to nest colonially. Many hillstars feed mainly on shrubs of the Andean plant genus ''

Chuquiraga ''Chuquiraga'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.''Chuquirag ...

'', and some species may be limited to them.Bleiweiss, R. (1982)
The northern limit of the hummingbird genus ''Oreotrochilus'' in South America.
''The Auk'' 99(2), 376-78. The genus has undergone

allopatric speciation Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

References

* Fjeldså, J. and I. Heynen (1999). Genus ''Oreotrochilus''. pp. 623–24 In: del Hoyo, J., et al. (eds.) '' Handbook of the Birds of the World.'' Vol. 5. Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. 1999. Taxa named by John Gould Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{hummingbird-stub