Order: Apodiformes Family: Trochilidae
Sub-species: Rainbow-bearded Thornbill (Chalcostigma herrani herrani), DeLattre and Bourcier, 1846.
Description. The male Rainbow-bearded Thornbill is mostly brownish-green with a distinctive orange cap and a narrow and elongated multi-colored gorget. The female is greenish brown with an orange cap and a rudimentary gorget. Both sexes have a dusky tail with large white tips on each feather. The bill in both sexes in black, short, and straight. It favors humid scrub and tall shrubbery. Both sexes resemble a male Rufous-capped Thornbill but are distinguished by being larger, mostly green, and having large white tips on the tail feathers.
Distribution. It is found in Colombia in the central mountain range in the departments of Caldas Quindío and Tolima and in the west mountain range in the departments of Cauca and Nariño, until southern Ecuador and northern Peru; It is between 2,700 and 3,600 m.as.l.
Habitat. Present on weedy edges, moor bushes, humid Polylepis forests, rocky slopes with the presence of ferns and bromeliads.
Diet. It mainly consumes nectar from flowers of Puya and Brachyotum, Bromeliaceae and Melastomataceae; Look for insects on leaves or on the bark of vegetation in higher strata, on grass or near the ground.
Behavior: Daytime Habit, usuallylonely.
Reproduction. The color of the egg is white, general. These have been found in July and September, this is probably their breeding season.
Population. Its population density has not been quantified, but the species is listed as «uncommon» (Stotz et al. 1996).
Threat Category. Least Concern
Map and Sounds
https://www.xeno-canto.org/399044
