- Heliodoxa leadbeateri
Identification
11–13 cm (4¼-5 in)
Mostly green with dark, forked tail.
Male has blue or violet crown, and in nominate subspecies orange on side of head, golden reflections on back of neck and on tail coverts, lacking in other, brown central tail becoming blue in others.
Female is smaller and has underside pale washed with green spots.
Distribution
South America: found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Four subspecies are recognized[1]:
- H. l. leadbeateri:
- Coastal mountains of northern Venezuela (Falcón to Carabobo and Miranda)
- H. l. parvula:
- Andes of Colombia and western Venezuela
- H. l. sagitta:
- H. l. otero
- Andes of central Peru to north-western Bolivia
Habitat
Cloud forest, moist to wet forests and second growth, shade coffee plantations, at not too high elevations.
Behaviour
Diet
Usually feeds below canopy to undergrowth, usually inside forests. Not in flocks.
Their main diet consists of nectar taken from flowers at about 1-10 m in height.
Breeding
There is little information available. The breeding season runs from January to May. The clutch of 2 eggs is incubated by the female.
Gallery
Click on photo for larger image
Subspecies sagitta''
Photo © by firecrest15
Wildsumaco Lodge, east Andes, Ecuador, April 2015
References
- 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/
- Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
- Erize et al. 2006 Birds of South America, non-passerines. Princeton Illustrated Checklists, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-691-12688-7
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2017)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Violet-fronted Brilliant. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Violet-fronted_Brilliant