Lazuline Sabrewing Campylopterus falcatus Scientific name definitions

The Lazuline Sabrewing is a large, often-solitary hummingbird, with a bold rufous tail and a white spot behind the eye. It prefers to visits flowers in shaded or covered areas of semi-deciduous montane forests, forest edges, gardens, disturbed areas, and sub-páramo. When not feeding, males often give a highly variable chatter from perches.

11·5–13 cm; 6·4–8 g (1 Collins, C. T. (1972). Weights of some birds of north-central Venezuela. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 92(6):151–153. Close , 2 King, J. R. (1991). Body weights of some Ecuadorean birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 111(1):46–49. Close ). Male has black decurved bill ; upperparts glittering green, bluer on crown; throat and breast glittering dark violet-blue shading to glittering blue , green on belly, shafts of outer three primaries thickened and flattened ; tail feathers chestnut, central pair broadly tipped bronze-green . Female similar to male, also with white postocular spot; throat glittering bluish, rest of underparts plain gray, flanks with green discs, tail similar to that of male but often with more green on central rectrices. Juvenile resembles adult female.

Might be confused with Violet-chested Hummingbird (Sternoclyta cyanopectus), but latter lacks any rufous in tail; also distinguished by lack of rufous in rectrices, Violet-fronted Brilliant (Heliodoxa leadbeateri) has a shorter and straighter bill than the present species, while, at lower elevations, female of present species might also be confused with Rufous-breasted Hermit (Glaucis hirsutus), but has grayish underparts and white post-ocular spot, among other features separating the two (3 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

In the past sometimes placed in genus Saepiopterus.

Mountains of north-central and western Venezuela, Sierra de Perijá, Santa Marta Mountains and eastern Andes of Colombia, south on eastern slope to northeastern Ecuador (Napo).

High and low montane semi-deciduous forest, flowering gardens, plantation edges and sub-páramo, at 900–3000 m (mostly at 1200–2300 m in Venezuela) (3 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), but recorded down to 450 m in northern Colombia (4 Strewe, R. and Navarro, C. (2004). New and noteworthy records of birds from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region, north-eastern Colombia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 124(1): 38–51. Close ).

No precise information; presumably sedentary.

Feeds on nectar of flowering ericads, Heliconia, Hibiscus and other flowers. Arthropods are caught in the air and gleaned from foliage. Forages, often by trap-lining (3 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), in understorey and mid-strata of forest, but may also stand guard at patch of flowers or visit canopy of large flowering trees such as Erythrina (3 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Reported to drink water trapped in Heliconia bracts.

Vocal Array

Song. Typical song consists of a long regular-paced series of staccato notes, in which a pattern of 3 different notes is repeated endlessly (patterns of 2, 4 and 5 notes have also been documented). Notes are quite variable, but mainly short (⁓ 0.03‒0.14 s) and high-pitched, and are delivered at a pace of about 2 notes/s. Occasionally, song may become less metronome-like, deviating from the regularly repeated pattern with accelerations and with more melodious notes thrown in . Such irregular jumbled song phrases have also been recorded (rarely) in longer sequences .

Trrrr. Short bursts of 3‒10 elements (vertical lines on sonogram) sounding like trr..trrrr.....tr...

Other. A repeated double note has also been reported, and is possibly just another song variant, but in such case very similar to song of Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans).

Geographic Variation

Has not been studied, but the highly variable song patterns within several regions suggest mainly individual variation rather than geographically determined vocal groups. Whether individuals have a repertoire of several song types is unknown.

Phenology

Little information. Song has been recorded in most months of the year.

Daily Pattern of Vocalizing

Song may be heard any time during the morning, but apparently rarely later on the day.

Places of Vocalizing

Song is given by male from a relatively exposed, medium-height perch, usually as widely scattered individuals (leks where several males sing at audible distance have been reported for several members of the genus, but not for the present species) (5 Hayes, F.E. and Temple, S.A. (2002). Studies in Trinidad and Tobago Ornithology Honouring Richard ffrench. Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Close ). Trrrr calls are typically uttered in flight or when hovering while feeding.

Sex Differences

Song is exclusively uttered by male.

Social Content and Presumed Functions of Vocalizations

Little information. Song has undoubtedly a territorial function.

Sabrewing Campylopterus species have shafts of the outermost primaries widened and sharply bent. It has been hypothesized that this may create the ability to produce nonvocal sounds, but so far there is no proof for that (5 Hayes, F.E. and Temple, S.A. (2002). Studies in Trinidad and Tobago Ornithology Honouring Richard ffrench. Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Close ).

Birds in breeding condition in June, Perijá mountains, Colombia/Venezuela, but probably breeds in October in Aragua, north-central Venezuela (6 Verea, C., A. Solórzano, M. Díaz, L. Parra, M. A. Araujo, F. Antón, O. Navas, O. J. L. Ruiz, and A. Fernández-Badillo (2009). Registros de actividad reproductora y muda en algunas aves del norte de Venezuela. Ornitología Neotropical 20(2):181–201. Close ). No further information.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Uncommon and patchily distributed in montane evergreen forests of northern Andes. Relatively sensitive to some habitat changes, but readily accepts man-made habitats like flowering gardens and plantations. Only recently recorded (at several localities) in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (northern Colombia) (4 Strewe, R. and Navarro, C. (2004). New and noteworthy records of birds from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region, north-eastern Colombia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 124(1): 38–51. Close ), where the species is now regularly recorded at feeders in the Reserva Natural de Aves El Dorado (7 Freeman, B. G., S. L. Hilty, D. Calderón-F., T. Ellery, and L. E. Urueña (2012). New and noteworthy bird records from central and northern Colombia. Cotinga 34:33–42. Close ). Recorded at many other reserves and protected areas throughout its range. Occurs at Colonia Tovar, near Caracas (northern Venezuela); also near San Andrés de Pisimbala (south-central Colombia).

Peter Boesman started birding at a young age in his home country of Belgium. He soon birded all over Europe, and shared his bird knowledge by writing articles, co-authoring a book about the birds of Flanders and joining the Belgian Rarities Committee—all while completing his MSc in both Engineering sciences and Music. In the early 90s, he moved to the Neotropics where he developed a special interest in bird sounds. He pioneered sharing bird song recordings by making multimedia productions and his MP3 collections were the reference for many Neotropical countries in the pre-internet days. Back in Belgium, he continues to focus on recording and studying bird sounds, and he has been especially prolific in analyzing bird vocalizations to support taxonomy and identification. Peter has written more than 1,000 voice accounts for Birds of the World, 400+ notes on the vocal distinctiveness of taxa, and several bird sound-related scientific papers. Peter’s entire bird sound collection – about 30,000+ recordings from about half the world’s bird species – are now all available at the Macaulay Library. He continues to provide expert voice accounts for Birds of the World.