Copper-rumped hummingbird

The copper-rumped hummingbird (Saucerottia tobaci) is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Tobago, Trinidad, Venezuela, and possibly Grenada.[4][3][5]

Copper-rumped hummingbird
S. t. erythronota, Trinidad
S. t. tobaci, Tobago
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Saucerottia
Species:
S. tobaci
Binomial name
Saucerottia tobaci
(Gmelin, 1788)
Range in green
Synonyms

Amazilia tobaci[3]

Taxonomy and systematics

The copper-rumped hummingbird was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus and coined the binomial name Trochilus tobaci.[6] Gmelin based his description on the "Tobago Humming-Bird" that had been described in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds.[7] The copper-rumped hummingbird was formerly placed in the genus Amazilia. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Amazilia was polyphyletic.[8] In the revised classification to create monophyletic genera, the copper-rumped hummingbird was moved by most taxonomic systems to the resurrected genus Saucerottia.[9][4][10][5][11] However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) retains it in Amazilia.[3]

The genus Saucerottia had been introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[12][13] The genus name is from the specific epithet saucerrottei for the steely-vented hummingbird, the type species. The epithet was coined in 1846 by Adolphe Delattre and Jules Bourcier to honor the French physician and ornithologist Antoine Constant Saucerotte. The specific epithet tobaci is from the island of Tobago, the type locality.[14]

These seven subspecies of copper-rumped hummingbird are recognised by world-wide taxonomic systems:[4][11][3]

A. t. tobaci in flight, Tobago

Description

The copper-rumped hummingbird is 9 to 11 cm (3.5 to 4.3 in) long. Males weigh 4.6 to 4.7 g (0.16 to 0.17 oz) and females 3.5 to 4.2 g (0.12 to 0.15 oz). The nominate subspecies S. t. tobaci is the largest. Both sexes of all subspecies have a straight, medium length, blackish bill with a pinkish base to the mandible. Males of S. t. tobaci have bronze-green upperparts with purple-red uppertail coverts. They have dark golden-green underparts with reddish brown undertail coverts. Their tail is purplish black. Adult females are similar though their upperparts are a less intense bronze-green and they have some whitish on the chin and upper throat. Juveniles resemble females but have some grayish brown on the throat and belly.[15]

Subspecies S. t. monticola is darker than the nominate and has a steel blue to violet-blue tail. S. t. feliciae's back is more of a golden-green than the nominate's and its tail is bluish black. S. t. caudata has a dark blue tail. S. t. aliciae has some copper in its upperparts, a blue-black tail, and cinnamon-rufous undertail coverts. S. t. erythronotos has slightly darker underparts than the nominate and some dark purplish in the uppertail coverts. S. t. caurensis has a grayer rump and uppertail coverts than the nominate, a dark purplish tail, and bluish black undertail coverts.[15]

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of copper-rumped hummingbird are found thus:[4][15]

Specimens of this species labeled as from Grenada are believed to have been actually collected on Tobago, and "the occurrence of the species in the Lesser Antilles is doubtful."[5]

The copper-rumped hummingbird inhabits a wide variety of forest types including gallery forest, cloudforest, rainforest, and secondary forest. S. t. erythronotos and S. t. tobaci are also found in savanna, plantations, and gardens. Most subspecies range in elevation from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) though monticola and feliciae can be found as high as 2,000 m (6,600 ft) and aliciae is seldom found at low elevation.[15]

Behavior

Movement

The island subspecies of copper-rumped hummingbird are sedentary; the mainland ones make some local movements.[15]

Feeding

The copper-rumped hummingbird forages for nectar from at least 40 species of trees, vines, herbs, and other plants including introduced species. It is extremely territorial and vigorously defends feeding areas from other birds, even larger ones. In addition to nectar it feeds on small insects by hawking from a perch or by gleaning from vegetation.[15]

Breeding

The copper-rumped hummingbird's breeding season on Trinidad is almost year-round, excluding only September and October; its peak is from January to March. On Tobago it spans at least from November to June. The breeding seasons of mainland subspecies are essentially unknown. The species builds a nest of silky plant down with lichen on the outside. It places it like a saddle in a fork or on a small branch, usually between 1 and 3 m (3 and 10 ft) above the ground but occasionally as high as 6 m (20 ft). Nests have also been found on wires and clotheslines. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for 16 to 19 days and fledging occurs 19 to 23 days after hatch. Up to three broods may be produced each season.[15]

Vocalization

The copper-rumped hummingbird's song is "a repeated phrase of three buzzy or squeaky, well-spaced notes 'tee-dee-dew' or 'tee-dzee-djit'." It also makes "high-pitched descending rattles" when foraging.[15]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the copper-rumped hummingbird as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are unknown. It has a large range and no immediate threats have been identified.[1] Those on Trinidad and Tobago and the mainland subspecies S. t. feliciae and S. t. caudata are considered common to very common. The other subspecies appear to be more scattered, though this might be due to incomplete data.[15]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Copper-rumped Hummingbird Amazilia tobaci". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  2. "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022
  4. Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (August 2022). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List. v 12.2. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  5. "Check-list of North and Middle American Birds". American Ornithological Society. August 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  6. Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1788). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. pp. 498–499.
  7. Latham, John (1782). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 1, Part 2. London: Printed for Benj. White. p. 781, No. 48.
  8. McGuire, J.; Witt, C.; Remsen, J.V.; Corl, A.; Rabosky, D.; Altshuler, D.; Dudley, R. (2014). "Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds". Current Biology. 24 (8): 910–916. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016. PMID 24704078.
  9. Stiles, F.G.; Remsen, J.V. Jr.; Mcguire, J.A. (2017). "The generic classification of the Trochilini (Aves: Trochilidae): Reconciling taxonomy with phylogeny". Zootaxa. 4353 (3): 401–424. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4353.3. PMID 29245495.
  10. Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022
  11. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021
  12. Bonaparte, Charles Lucian (1850). Conspectus Generum Avium (in Latin). Vol. 1. Leiden: E.J. Brill. p. 77.
  13. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 68.
  14. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 348, 387. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  15. Weller, A.A., P. F. D. Boesman, and G. M. Kirwan (2021). Copper-rumped Hummingbird (Saucerottia tobaci), version 1.1. 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.corhum1.01.1 retrieved September 8, 2022

Further reading
  • ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
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