Azure-crowned Hummingbird

Overview

The azure-crowned hummingbird (Saucerottia cyanocephala) is a small bird in the emerald tribe Trochilini. It inhabits a range extending from Mexico through Central America to Nicaragua.

Identification

• Measures 10 to 11.5 cm in length with a weight averaging 5.8 g for males and 5.4 g for females.
• Males of the nominate subspecies possess a bright metallic blue crown, while females display a duller blue to greenish blue crown.
• Features a metallic bronze nape and back, with underparts that are white from chin to vent, flanked by metallic bronze green on the breast.
• Produces a low, buzzy 'dzzzrt' sound and a mellow, strong chip that may run into a trill or rattle.

Habitat

The species is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The nominate subspecies occupies the edges of humid evergreen, oak, and pine-oak forest, scrublands, and secondary forest between 600 and 2,400 m in elevation. The chlorostephana subspecies is restricted to pine savanna at low elevation on the Mosquito Coast of eastern Honduras and northeastern Nicaragua.

Diet

This bird forages for nectar from the understory to the forest canopy. It forages both by trap-lining and defending feeding territories. In pine savanna habitats, it has been observed hovering at clusters of needles and bark crevices, though it is unknown if this behaviour involves hunting arthropods or visiting epiphyte flowers.

Did you know?

In urban areas, these birds have been recorded building their cup nests on utility wires rather than in the traditional branch forks or over branches.