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White-throated Daggerbill - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by edenwatcheredenwatcher
Buenaventura, Ecuador

Alternative names: Choco Daggerbill; White-throated Wedgebill

Schistes albogularis

Identification

This species has a very sharp bill (it is very narrow when seen from above).

Male

  • The chin and throat and front of crown are glittering green
  • White neck-sides are connected across the lower throat
  • Post-ocular stripe is reduced to almost just a spot
  • Sides of head has a dusky area around the eye, and below that is a bluish/purple area above the white on the neck
  • Upperside including lower back and rump is green
  • Underside including vent area is green

Female differs in having throat and chin area entirely white

Similar species

Geoffroy's Daggerbill differs in having central throat green in male and white with a lot of green speckles in female. It also differ in the much longer post-ocular stripe, underside that gets paler to white in the vent area, and lower back and rump are coppery bronze.

Distribution

Western and Central Andes of Colombia and western Ecuador.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.
Formerly considered conspecific with Geoffroy's Daggerbill under the name Wedge-billed Hummingbird.

Habitat

Moist montane forests.

Behaviour

This species uses its sharp bill to pierce a hole near the bottom of a flower to rob the nectar through this back door. It does so at relatively large flowers such as Heliconia.

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/
  2. SACC proposal (not passed) to lump genus Schistes into Augastes
  3. del Hoyo, J., N. Collar, G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2021). White-throated Daggerbill (Schistes albogularis), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.webhum3.01.1

Recommended Citation

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