HUMMINGBIRD SPECIES

Buffy Hummingbird

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Leucippus fallax

The Buffy Hummingbird is a species of bird in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Leucippus.

This hummingbird ranges from 3.3 to 3.5 inches in length.

Males and females are similar in appearance but females tend to be less brightly colored, and there is considerable variation in shade between individuals.

Back and upper parts are a dull green, underparts are pale cinnamon-buff and the belly and undertail coverts white. Tail is dull green with a transverse gray bar and a rounded end.

There is a white spot behind the eye and the beak is slender and straight. Upper mandible is black and lower mandible is pale with a black tip.

The males produce mating calls during their fall, when plummeting from the sky in an arc-like fashion.

Consumes the nectar of such plants as Agave and Hibiscus and various species of cacti.

It also consumes the exposed flesh and the juice of the fruits of cacti in the genus Armatocereus, which is unusual for a hummingbird.

In addition to plant matter, it also consumes insects, which it catches in flight.

Desert shrubland, thorny shrubs in arid areas and mangrove areas at elevations of up to 500 meters (1,600 ft).

It forages at medium heights and near the ground. It tends to feed near the canopy of the forests that it inhabits.

Colombia, French Guiana, and Venezuela.

The nest is cup-shaped and built on top of a low branch or in the fork of a bush. It is composed of the soft fibers of the tree cotton and decorated externally with bits of bark, lichen and leaf.

Two eggs are laid.

SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://ebird.org