Blue-tailed Emerald Article Index for
Blue-tailed
Website Links For
Emerald
 

Information About

Blue-tailed Emerald




  Name Blue-tailed Emerald
  Regnum Animal ia
  Phylum Chordata
  Classis Aves
  Ordo Trochiliformes
  Familia Trochilidae
  Genus '' Chlorostilbon ''
  Species '''''C mellisugus'''''
  Binomial ''Chlorostilbon mellisugus''
  Binomial Authority ( Linnaeus , 1758 )


The Blue-tailed Emerald, ''Chlorostilbon mellisugus'', is a Hummingbird that breeds from Colombia south and east to the Guiana s, Trinidad Bolivia and Brazil .

It is a Bird of savanna, scrub, cultivation and similar semi-open woodland. The female lays her eggs in a small cup nest, similar to that of the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird , placed on a horizontal tree branch. Incubation is 13 days with a further 18 days to fledging.

The Blue-tailed Emerald is 7.4 cm long and weighs 2.6 g. The black bill is short and straight. The male has mainly brilliant green plumage, with white thighs and a forked metallic blue tail. The female differs from the male in that she has grey-white underparts, a blackish ear patch, a short white supercilium and white-tipped outer tail feathers.

Blue-tailed Emeralds feed on Insect s and nectar. The song is a pleasant twittering, and the call of this species is a pebbly ''tsip''.


REFERENCES


  • ''Birds of Venezuela'' by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5

  • ''Birds of Trinidad and Tobago'' by ffrench, ISBN 0-7136-6759-1