Green-bearded Helmetcrest Oxypogon guerinii Scientific name definitions

The Green-bearded Helmetcrest is the most widespread member of the genus, but even so it has a restricted distribution, occurring only in the Eastern Andes of Colombia. The group name helmetcrest refers to the dark sides of the head and the long, narrow, pointed crest, which is white in the center. As with other species of helmetcrest, the throat gorget is long and narrow - beardlike in shape - and is glittering green, with a narrow white border. Green-bearded Helmetcrest occupies humid páramos, from ca 3000-5200 m. This helmetcrest feeds at a variety of flowering shrubs, but prefers Espeletia, and more frequently clings to flowers when feeding, rather than by hovering in front of a flower. Green-bearded Helmetcrest also forages for very small arthropods, which are capturing while hovering, during short sallies from perch, or even gleaning while perched on the ground.

11·2–12·7 cm (including moderately long tail); male 4·9–6·2 g (mean 5·7 g in one study), female 4·4–5·2 g (mean 4·8 g in one study). Male has short, straight, black bill (1·35 cm); head dark brown to black with white crest  , back  bronzy; white elongated chin and throat feathers form “beard” with green central feathers  ; white collar contrasts with dark head, rest of underparts greyish-bronzy; tail, forked, coppery to bronzy-green, has broad white stripe including shafts of outer rectrices. Female  similar to male but lacks prominent crest and “beard”, slightly buff-shot white breast and belly less mottled, more uniform and paler buff-brown (little if any green feathering). Juvenile  resembles adult female; juvenile male develops partial crest and “beard”.

E Andes of Colombia (S to Cundinamarca).

Humid open páramo with Espeletia  vegetation, sometimes at edge of Polylepis forests; females often found in gorges while males seem to be more restricted to open hillsides; occurs at 3000 m to 5200 m.

Present year-round in páramo, but at Cerros de Torca, Cundinamarca, and Páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá, it was suspected that during the dry season (Nov–Feb) the species partially departed the area, perhaps for adjacent high-Andean forests (2 Gutiérrez-Zamora, A. (2008). Las interacciones ecológicas y estructura de una comunidad altoandina de colibríes y flores en la Cordillera Oriental de Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 7: 17–42. Close , 3 Salamanca-Reyes, J.R. (2011). Ecología del Barbudito de Páramo (Oxypogon guerinii, Trochilidae) en el páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá, Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 11: 58–75. Close ), while some or most of O. lindenii migrate to lower elevations during non-breeding season, and the same might prove true of at least some other members of this species complex.

Feeding ecology studied at Páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá (3 Salamanca-Reyes, J.R. (2011). Ecología del Barbudito de Páramo (Oxypogon guerinii, Trochilidae) en el páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá, Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 11: 58–75. Close ), where preference was for flowers of Espeletia spp. (in decreasing order of frequency, E. lopezii, E. jaramilloi and E. congestiflora) and Brachyotum strigosum, with a total of 19 different species of plants visited for nectar—others including Pernettya prostata, Vaccinium floribundum, Racinaea tetrata, Espeletiopsis argentea, Senecio formosoides, S. niveo-aureus, Diplostephium revolutum, Bombus sp., and Castilleja integrifolia—and the species both clung to flowers and hovered to feed at them, although the former was much more frequently observed. Additional food plants have been recorded elsewhere, including Espeletia grandiflora in Chingaza National Park, and ten other species at Cerros de Torca, Cundinamarca, e.g. Macrocarpea glabra, Miconia sp., Cavendishia nitida and C. bracteata (2 Gutiérrez-Zamora, A. (2008). Las interacciones ecológicas y estructura de una comunidad altoandina de colibríes y flores en la Cordillera Oriental de Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 7: 17–42. Close ). Also observed to take arthropods, using five different methods: (1) hovering in flight, (2) short aerial sallies from a perch (typically c. 50 cm above ground) to air, (3) taking flying insects while perched, (4) short aerial sallies from a perch to vegetation, and (5) taking insects on vegetation, e.g. Sphagnum sp., when perched on ground.

Adult voice not definitely documented (1 Collar, N.J. and Salaman, P. (2013). The taxonomic and conservation status of the Oxypogon helmetcrests. Conservación Colombiana. 19: 31–38. Close ), but two males pursuing a female gave an insistent “tii…tii…” (3 Salamanca-Reyes, J.R. (2011). Ecología del Barbudito de Páramo (Oxypogon guerinii, Trochilidae) en el páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá, Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 11: 58–75. Close ).

Season closely related to flowering season of Espeletia; at least May (probably Apr) (3 Salamanca-Reyes, J.R. (2011). Ecología del Barbudito de Páramo (Oxypogon guerinii, Trochilidae) en el páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá, Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 11: 58–75. Close ) to mid Sept (4 Hilty, S. L., and W. L. Brown (1986). A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ). An empty nest  found in Jul was in a rocky escarpment. One fledgling  recorded in early Jan, perched on similarly placed nest. Ecology presumably very similar to better-studied O. lindenii.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Restricted-range species: endemic to the Colombian East Andes and present in Colombian East Andes EBA. Global range calculated to be 19,700 km² BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Oxypogon guerinii. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/12/2014. . Locally common (3 Salamanca-Reyes, J.R. (2011). Ecología del Barbudito de Páramo (Oxypogon guerinii, Trochilidae) en el páramo de Siscunsí, Boyacá, Colombia. Orn. Colombiana. 11: 58–75. Close ) and known from several protected areas, among them Chingaza, Sumapaz and El Cocuy National Parks.