Purple-Bibbed Whitetip

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Urosticte Benjamini

Purple-Bibbed Whitetip

The Purple-Bibbed Whitetip is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae.

BILL:  Medium-length straight black bill.

SIZE:  8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long.

WEIGHT:  3.8 to 4.2 g (0.13 to 0.15 oz).

COLOR: Glittering green, violet, white, gray, dusky bronze and purple.

Both sexes have glittering green upperparts and a prominent white stripe behind the eye.

Males have a violet lower throat white below it and a grayish belly with green spots. Tail is dusky bronze; central feathers have wide white tips that appear as an oval spot.

Females have white underparts heavily spotted with green. Tail is dusky bronze with purple near the end and white tips on the outer feathers.

Juveniles are similar to females with the addition of brown edges on the head feathers.

Collects nectar from a variety of flowering plants including bromeliads and members of families Ericaceae, Fabaceae, and Rubiaceae. It also captures insects by gleaning from vegetation and hawking from a perch.

Makes a "mellow, nasal-sounding fast twittering 'tweetweetweetwee...'" that can sound like "a laughing chatter". While feeding in flight it also makes "single lower-pitched scratchy notes, 'chrrrrr'". Another call is a "very high-pitched 'pseee'."

Inhabits the interior and edges of montane forest, generally at elevations between 700 and 1,600 m (2,300 and 5,200 ft). In Ecuador it is most numerous between 1,200 and 1,400 m (3,900 and 4,600 ft).

Pacific slope of the Andes from Colombia's Chocó Department south into Ecuador as far as Pichincha Province.

Sedentary in Colombia but in Ecuador moves to lower elevations after breeding.

Breeding season in Ecuador spans from January to April; it has not been defined in Colombia.

NEST:  A cup nest from moss and ferns, and typically places it in a shrub or vines in a steep ravine about 2 to 4 m (7 to 10 ft) above the ground.

CLUTCH SIZE:  Two eggs.

INCUBATION:  16 to 18 days.

Purple-Bibbed Whitetip Infographic

REFERENCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org
https://ebird.org
http://datazone.birdlife.org

 

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