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Heliangelus
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Orange-throated Sunangel Heliangelus mavors Scientific name definitions

Iris Heynen and Peter F. D. Boesman
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 1999

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

The gorget of the male Orange-throated Sunangel indeed is a glittering orange, when seen in good light. As typically is the case with hummingbird iridescence, however, the throat often appears black. The male sunangel still is recognized easily by the broad buffy crescent across the breast. The female is generally buffy below, but still shows a faint buff crescent. This is a typical sunangel, occurring in humid forests, forest edges, and shrub zones in the Venezuelan Andes. The species has seasonal elevational movements, descending to lower elevations during the rainy season. The Orange-throated Sunangel is a common species within its restricted geographic range.

Field Identification

10–11 cm; 3·9–4·4 g. Bill blackish and straight. Male shining green above with a rather narrow glittering orange frontlet; throat and upper breast are glittering coppery orange, bordered below by a broad cinnamon-buff pectoral band; rest of underparts are buff, thickly spotted with golden green discs, especially on the lower breast and flanks; the tail is square with the central feathers golden-green and the outer feathers dark bronze with pale tips. Female similar but has gorget rufous-brown speckled buff. Immature resembles adult female, but young male soon develops a dusky-brown throat.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

NW Venezuela (S Lara to Táchira) and E Andes of Colombia (Norte de Santander to Boyacá).

Habitat

Edges of humid montane cloudforest and dwarf forest, open pastures and páramo slopes with bushes and scattered trees in upper subtropical and temperate zones. Also inhabits rather dry habitats with scanty second growth from 2000 to 3200 m.

Movement

Mainly sedentary; altitudinal dispersal after breeding.

Diet and Foraging

The species is territorial at flower clusters, usually at low levels inside the forest or at forest edges. Salvia has been recorded as food plant. While foraging usually stays near cover; often clings to flowers while feeding. Insects are caught by hawking.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Call a repeated, high-pitched, cricket-like, faint trill (pitch c. 6 kHz, length c. 0.3–1 second), given either from perch or in flight.

Breeding

Dec–Mar. Clutch two white eggs, incubation by female. First breeding in second year. No further information available.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in Cordillera de Mérida EBA and Colombian East Andes EBA. Locally common in the temperate zone of the Venezuelan Cordillera, especially with patches of páramo vegetation; generally uncommon to rare in Andes of NE Colombia, though frequently seen around Boyacá.
Distribution of the Orange-throated Sunangel - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Orange-throated Sunangel

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Heynen, I. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Orange-throated Sunangel (Heliangelus mavors), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ortsun1.01
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