A Beginner’s Guide To Tufted Coquette Hummingbirds

The Tufted Coquette hummingbird is a tiny bird with ornate patterns. You can identify this hummingbird anywhere you are if you know what it looks like and its behavior. After all, there are endless hummingbird species, and you might confuse some of them because of the same colors.

So, if you are looking to know more about Tufted Coquette hummingbirds, you have come to the right place. Here is everything you need to know about these beautiful hummingbirds.

Tufted Coquette Hummingbird Description

These species are small hummingbirds that average eight centimeters in length. It is so tiny that if it moves really fast, you can confuse it with a large bee as it is known to move from one flower to another. The beak is red, and the tip is black as it is straight and short.

The female Tufted Coquette does not have the same plumes and crest as the male. Instead, her upper body is green, and her tail band is whitish. Besides that, the under-plumage is a rufous color, but it becomes pale at the abdomen. The female's tail has a bronze-green tail with white feathers and a dusk band.

The male Tufted Coquette has orange-colored feathers and a black-spotted rufous with an orange head crest. The back has a white rump band and a coppery green back. Finally, the tail is golden rufous, and the under-plumage and forehead are green.

The Diet Of The Tufted Coquette Hummingbird

The diet of the Tufted Coquette is mainly nectar that they feed on from brightly colored and scented flowers of small trees, shrubs, and herbs. You will notice that the Tufted Coquette favors flowers that have the highest sugar content. Besides that, they are incredibly territorial and will protect the regions containing flowers with nutritious nectar.

On the other hand, many cultivated and native plants rely on these hummingbirds for pollination. The tubular-shaped flowers exclude butterflies and bees feeding on them so they can pollinate through a hummingbird. Besides that, the Tufted Coquette might also visit feeders to get some sugar water.

Of course, their diet is not just restricted to nectar and sugar water. Instead, they also take in sources of protein for their diet. These include small insects and spiders. Such insects are of the utmost importance during the breeding season as it guarantees the proper development of the young.

The hummingbird will catch these insects mid-flight, or they will take them from spider webs. On average, the nesting female can capture at least two-thousand insects in a day.

The Range And Distribution Of A Tufted Coquette

You will notice that the Tufted Coquette is uncommon within its own ranges. You will mostly find these hummingbirds in small groups or even alone, where they search for small insects and nectar for feeding. These birds usually breed in east Venezuela, Suriname, Trinidad, and many other places.

Besides that, it is a seasonal or local migrant. Therefore, you will mostly find this breed in Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, and much more. These hummingbirds are usually found in open country areas at the edges of humid forests and thickets, but they can also appear in cultivated areas, such as savannas, plantations, and gardens.

Top Facts About The Tufted Coquette Hummingbird

Here are the top facts you need to know about the Tufted Coquette hummingbird:

1. They Face Threats

Unfortunately, the Tufted Coquette faces threats to its population. That is because of habitat loss and climate change. These are the two biggest threats for these hummingbirds, which is why we must take action to curb both these threats.

2. For Now, They Have A Stable Population

While the Tufted Coquette faces threats, their population is stable for now and is sufficient enough. This is true for its entire native range as you will find these hummingbirds a lot in such areas. Because of this, the IUCN has listed it as the Least Concern on its Red List of Threatened Species.

3. The First Distinction Happened In 1781

The first distinction of this species occurred in1781. Such an acknowledgment took place because of the work of Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon, a French naturalist. The hummingbird and its acknowledgment appeared in his Historie Naturelle des Oiseaux.

Final Words

If you are just trying to understand hummingbirds, you might have gotten a lot from our guide to the Tufted Coquette hummingbird. It is a tiny yet beautiful species that occurs in many areas, and you can easily spot it if you know what it looks like. Its appearance is one of its most striking features that also works to its advantage in the native habitat.

Now that you know what the Tufted Coquette looks like and where it occurs, you can try to spot this breed in these places. However, the bird is incredibly fast and may look like a small bee to you from afar. So, be sure to have your binoculars ready to go if you ever go bird-watching for this breed.