Purple-bibbed Whitetip Urosticte benjamini Scientific name definitions

Although common residents of humid and wet forests, Purple-bibbed Whitetips are difficult to see since they rarely forage out in the open. They typically forage by themselves, taking nectar from small flowers or hovering as they glean for insects. Purple-billed Whitetips build their nests of moss and ferns in shrubs or vines along steep ravines. Both males and females have a large white spot behind the eye and the white bottom half of the male's central tail feathers creates the appearance of a large white tail spot. Females are green above and white below with extensive green spotting.

8–9 cm; 3·8–4·2 g. Male has medium-sized straight bill, black; above glittering green; prominent white postocular streak; underparts shining green with violaceous tinge below the throat, upper breast whitish, becoming greyish on belly, heavily spotted green; tail dusky bronze, central rectrices broadly tipped white, forming an oval spot. Female above similar to male, postocular stripe white; below white and heavily spotted with green; tail dusky bronze, purple subterminally, outer rectrices broadly tipped white. Juvenile similar to adult female but with brown-edged head feathers. Female and juvenile might be confused with Ocreatus underwoodii, but latter is smaller and has much less green-spangled underparts (1 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ).

Pacific slope of W Colombia (headwaters of R San Juan) S to NW Ecuador (Pichincha) (2 Stiles, F.G., Krabbe, N.K. and Schulenberg, T.S. (2006). Species limits in the genus Urosticte (Trochilidae). Orn. Colombiana 4: 59–63. Close ).

Forest and forest borders of montane regions at 700–1600 m. A solitary bird, foraging mainly inside the forest from near the ground to subcanopy level. In W Ecuador most numerous around 1200–1400 m.

Sedentary in Colombia. In W Ecuador, after breeding, individuals disperse to lower altitudes.

Nectar of flowering Ericaceae, Fabaceae (Inga) (1 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ), Rubiaceae and bromeliads. Insects are gleaned from the surface or caught in the air by hawking.

A mellow, nasal-sounding fast twittering “tweetweetweetwee...”, also described as a laughing chatter. Also single lower-pitched scratchy notes, “chrrrrr”, while feeding in flight, and very high-pitched “pseee”.

Jan–Apr in Ecuador. Compact cup-shaped nest of moss and fern hairs is built in shrubs or vines along steep ravines, about 2–4 m above the ground. Clutch size two eggs; incubation 16–18 days, by female; chick is blackish with buffy dorsal down; fledging period unknown.

Not globally threatened. CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in Chocó EBA. A common bird in montane forests. Part of the range of the species is legally protected; occurs in Río Ñambi Reserve (Colombia) and Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve ­(Ecuador).