Blue-throated Starfrontlet - BirdForum Opus

Coeligena helianthea

Female
Photo © by Dave Smith
Observatorio de Colibries, Colombia, July, 2019

Identification

13 cm (5 in)
Male

• Long straight black bill
• Black head
• Green forehead
• White Post-ocular spot

Distribution

South America: found inColombia and Venezuela.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies^[1]:

• C. h. helianthea:

• Andes of north-eastern Colombia (Sierra de Perijá to Bogotá)

• C. h. tamai:

• Western Venezuela (Páramo de Tamá in Táchira)

Habitat

Moist montanes and high-altitude shrubland.

Behaviour

Diet

Their main diet consists of nectar.

Breeding

They breed between May and October, but there is no other information currently available.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/

1. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2019)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Blue-throated Starfrontlet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-throated_Starfrontlet

External Links

Search for photos of Blue-throated Starfrontlet in the gallery