Fiery-throated hummingbird

Panterpe insignis

Photo by Joseph Boone (Wikipedia)

Common name:
fiery-throated hummingbird (en); colibri-garganta-de-fogo (pt); colibri insigne (fr); colibrí insigne (es); feuerkehlkolibri (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Apodiformes
Family Trochilidae

Range:
This species is found along Cordillera de Guanacaste and Cordillera de Tilarán, from northern Costa Rica to western Panama.

Size:
These birds are 10,5-11 cm long. The females are smaller than males, weighing 5 g while males weigh 6 g.

Habitat:
The fiery-throated in mostly found in moist tropical forests in mountainous areas, including cloud forests and elfin forests, also using timberline scrublands and grasslands, second growths and pastures. They occur at altitudes of 1.400-3.200 m.

Diet:
They feed on the nectar, visiting the flowers of various epyphytes, particularly ericads, bromeliads and gesneriads, as well as those of scrubs and small trees such as Centropogon valerii and Gaiadendron.

Breeding:
Fiery-throated hummingbirds breed in August-January. Males are territorial and will mate with multiple females, having no further part in the breeding process. The female builds the nest, a bulky cup made of treefern scales and plant down woven together with cobwebs and heavily decorate the outside with moss and lichens. It is placed usually placed at the end of a drooping bamboo stems or rootlets overhanging a bank, 2-4 m above the ground. There she lays 2 white eggs which she incubates for 14-19 days. She raises the chicks alone and they fledge 18-28 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a relatively small breeding range, but is described as common to abundant over most this range. There is no information on population trends, but there are no known relevant threats at present. However, due to its mountainous distribution, global warming may in the future restrict their range to higher altitudes.