Olive-spotted Hummingbird Talaphorus chlorocercus Scientific name definitions

The Olive-spotted Hummingbird is the only hummingbird that specializes in the early successional habitats produced by the shifting courses of large Amazonian rivers. While typically observed on river islands, they can sometimes be found in similar habitats on the banks of these rivers as well. They feed on nectar and aerial arthropods and build-their cup-shaped nests on a branch or Gynerium cane stem. They are less remarkable in appearance than habits, with dull greenish-olive upperparts and white underparts containing scattered greenish flecks on the throat and sides of the breast.

12 cm; 6 g. Most species of similar-sized hummingbirds (e.g. Chlorostilbon notatus, Chionomesa fimbriata) found in same geographical region, abeit not necessarily syntopically (note the specific habitat requirements of T. chlorocercus, which are an extremely useful clue to identification), are much more heavily marked on underparts than present species and often have much bluer tails (1 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ). Male has straight, medium-sized, blackish bill  ; crown and neck bronze; rest of upperparts greyish green to bronze-green  ; underparts  whitish; throat with olive-green, at certain angles glittering golden-green spots; tail pale greyish green to olive-green ; greyish tips to median rectrices, extending to outer webs in lateral rectrices; dark subterminal bar on outer rectrices  . Female similar to male, bill slightly longer. Juvenile has more greyish-brown underparts.

Formerly placed in genus Talaphorus, alone or with T. taczanowskii, sometimes also with Taphrospilus hypostictus. Monotypic.

Along R Amazon and tributaries in E Ecuador, NE Peru, extreme SE Colombia and NW Brazil.

Mainly restricted to younger river islands in upper Amazon Basin and its tributaries, occurring in open shrubby woodland and early-successional vegetation (2 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ), as well as locally in pastures on adjacent “mainland” (1 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ); occurs below 400 m (2 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ).

Forages  for nectar  at species of diverse plant families, including Leguminosae, Lorantaceae, Vochysiaceae, Bro­me­liaceae, Rutaceae, Bombacaceae, Malva­ceae, Rubiaceae, Myrtaceae, Passiflora­ceae. Gleans insects from leaf surfaces.

Song described as a monotonous series of multisyllabic notes, e.g. “cliCHEW cliCHEW cliCHEW...”, while calls include a sharp “seek”, a wiry “seeuee”, a rich chatter and a hard “tcht” (1 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ).

Breeding season unknown. Nest cup-shaped, made of soft plant material, fibres, cobweb, externally decorated with lichen; placed on horizontal branch at height of 2–10 m. Clutch size two eggs; incubation 14–15 days, by female; fledging at 20 days.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in Upper Amazon-Napo Lowlands EBA. Fairly common to rare resident along riversides. Range limits unclear; current distribution in NE Ecuador and W Brazil needs further clarification. In Ecuador, to date known solely from R Napo, where first recorded as recently as 1959 (2 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ). In Brazil, known from just one specimen, collected at Benjamin Constant (near the border with Colombia), with sight records from Tabatinga, around Manaus and the Reserva Mamirauá, where fairly common (3 Pacheco, J.F. (1995). New distributional records for some birds from várzea forest at Mamirauá Reserve, western Brazilian Amazonia. Ararajuba. 3: 83–87. Close ), as well as the upper R Madeira, close to the border with Bolivia, in which country it has yet to be recorded (4 Tobias, J. (2007). Far from the birding crowd: range extensions and recent additions to the Bolivian avifauna. Neotropical Birding 2: 36–39. Close ). Recorded in 2013 in the upper R Madre de Dios, near Pantiacolla Lodge, SE Peru (5 Carnes, B.H., Turbek, S.P. and Heavyside, J. (2015). Observations of Olive-spotted Hummingbird Leucippus chlorocercus in south-east Peru. Cotinga. 37: 120–121. Close ).