Royal Sunangel - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Stanley Jones
Fundo Alto Nieva, San Martín, Peru, January 2017

Heliangelus regalis

Identification

Photo by Stanley Jones
Fundo Alto Nieva, San Martín, Peru, January 2017

10–12 cm (4-4¾ in)

• Straight black bill
• Deeply forked tail (less so in the femae)
  

Male

• Shining dark blue overall plumage
• Brighter iridescent forecrown
  

Female

• Dark green
• Cinnamon underparts with bronze-green spots
• Pale breast band

Distribution

South America: found in Ecuador and Peru.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Subspecies regalis
Photo by Luis R
Fundo Alto Nieva, San Martin, Peru, March 2018

There are 2 subspecies^[1]:

• H. r. regalis:

• Very local in Andes of south-eastern Ecuador (Zamora-Chinchipe) and of northern Peru (Cajamarca, Amazonas, and San Martín)

• H. r. johnsoni:

• Local in central Peru (Cordillera Azul, south-western Loreto)

Habitat

Scrub forest, secondary tropical humid montane forest (cloud forest) at 1,903 m (6,243 ft) elevation, eastern-slope of the Andes.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of nectar and small insects.

Breeding

The female incubates the 2 white eggs.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2017)
4. BF Member observations
5. ArKive

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Royal Sunangel. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 September 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Royal_Sunangel

External Links

Search for photos of Royal Sunangel in the gallery