Long-billed Starthroat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Photo] Long-billed Starthroat Hummingbird (Heliomaster longirostris) illustration. From: A MONOGRAPH OF THE TROCHILIDAE, OR FAMILY OF HUMMING-BIRDS. 6 vols. large folio. Published in London 1849-87. Printed by Hullmandel and Walter from drawings by J. Gould, H.C. Richter and William Hart, lithographed by the artists. Published in London, 1849-87. URL: http://www.oldprintshop.com/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?action=detail&inventory_id=18516&itemno=1

The Long-billed Starthroat, Heliomaster longirostris, is a hummingbird that breeds from southern Mexico to Panama, from Colombia south and east to Bolivia and Brazil, and on Trinidad. It is present throughout South and Central America and is an uncommon but widespread species, which appears to be a local or seasonal migrant, although its movements are not well understood.

The Long-billed Hummingbird's greatest range is east of the Andes and covers the entire Amazon Basin and northern South America including the Guianas.

This hummingbird inhabits forest, and is usually seen in woodland clearings, but will sometimes visit gardens. The female Long-billed Starthroat lays two eggs in a small cup nest in a tree.

The Long-billed Starthroat is 10.2 cm long and weighs 6.8 g. The black bill is straight and very long, at about 3.5 cm. The male has bronze-green upperparts, a blue crown, white moustachial stripe and reddish throat. The underparts are grey shading to white on the flanks and mid-belly, and the tail is mainly black. The female is similar, but has a green crown and a purple-edged black throat.

Long-billed Starthroats feed on nectar, taken from a variety of flowers, and some insects. The song of this species while feeding is a light weet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-billed_Starthroat

The text in this page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article shown in above URL. It is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.