From Opus

Subspecies erythronotos
Photo by Graham Osborne
Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad

Amazilia tobaci

Saucerottia tobaci

[edit] Identification

9cm
Upperside is green with variable amounts of copper, strongest on the rump, but sometimes covering all the way to the crown. Wings and tail has a purple-blue sheen; tail is slightly forked. Underside is generally green, blending in to either coppery-cinnamon-rufous or bluish black undertail coverts (variation is geopgraphic and correlates with different subspecies). Mandible can have some flesh colour, but tip is always black.

Nominate
Photo by obasanmi
Arnos Vale Hotel, Tobago, June 2005

[edit] Distribution

Trinidad, Tobago and Venezuela.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 7 subspecies^[1]:

• A. t. tobaci:

• Tobago

• A. t. erythronotos:

• Trinidad

• A. t. aliciae:

• Arid littoral of north-eastern Venezuela and Isla Margarita

• A. t. monticola:

• North-western Venezuela

• A. t. feliciae:

• Coastal ranges and arid littoral of northern Venezuela

• A. t. caudata:

• North-eastern Venezuela

• A. t. caurensis:

• Eastern and south-eastern Venezuela (Orinoco Valley to the tepuis)

[edit] Habitat

Rain and cloud forests, second growth, etc. but also gardens and savannas with scattered trees up to 1600 to 1800 metres above sea level.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes mainly nectar and some insects.

[edit] Breeding

It builds a very small cup shaped nest which is placed on a low branch; the eggs are incubated for 16-17 days, and the young fledge 19-23 days later. There can be 3 broods in a season.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: chip
Song: tyee-tyee-tyoo.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links