Empress brilliant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Empress brilliant |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Genus: | Heliodoxa |
| Species: |
H. imperatrix
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| Binomial name | |
| Heliodoxa imperatrix (Gould, 1856)
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The empress brilliant (Heliodoxa imperatrix) is a beautiful hummingbird. It is known for its bright, glittering feathers. This amazing bird lives in the forests of Colombia and Ecuador. It belongs to a group of hummingbirds called "brilliants."
Contents
About the Empress Brilliant
For a while, this hummingbird was the only bird in its own special group called Eugenia. Later, scientists decided it fit better with other hummingbirds. So, it was moved into the Heliodoxa group. This means it is the only type of empress brilliant.
What They Look Like
Male empress brilliants are about 15 to 17 centimeters (6 to 7 inches) long. They weigh around 9.3 grams (0.33 ounces). Females are a bit smaller, about 12 to 13.5 centimeters (4.7 to 5.3 inches) long. They weigh about 8.3 grams (0.29 ounces).
Male Birds
The adult male has a sparkling dark green forehead, face, and chest. Right in the middle of his throat, there is a bright, square-shaped violet patch. His head and neck are dark green. The rest of his upper body is a dark, shiny bronze-green. His belly shines with a golden-green color. The feathers in the middle of his tail are dark bronze. The other tail feathers are longer and black with a bronze shine.
Female Birds
The adult female has a bronze-green upper body. The middle of her throat and chest are grayish. They have many bronze-green flecks. Her sides are a solid bronze-green, and her belly is golden-green. The central tail feathers are bronze-green. The other tail feathers are dull black with a bronze shine.
Young Birds
Young male birds have a dull dark bronze-green head, throat, and chest. Their chin and the sides of their throat are a bright buff color. Their belly is a duller, more bronze-green than the adult male's. Young female birds also have a buffy chin. The green feathers on their chest are duller than an adult's and have buffy edges.
Where They Live
The empress brilliant lives on the Pacific side of the Andes mountains. You can find them from Colombia's Chocó Department down into Ecuador. They live as far south as Pichincha Province.
Their Home
These hummingbirds like very wet places. They live in foothill forests and the inside and edges of cloudforests. They also live in older secondary forests. These are forests that have grown back after being cut down. They can be found at heights from 400 to 2,000 meters (1,300 to 6,600 feet) above sea level.
How They Behave
Movement
Scientists are not sure if empress brilliants move from place to place. Their movements, if any, have not been studied much.
What They Eat
Both male and female empress brilliants look for food from the middle to the top of the forest trees. Females also look for food closer to the ground. They love to drink nectar from flowers. A main source of nectar comes from Marcgravia and Marcgraviastrum vines. They perch on these vines to feed. They also hover under drooping flowers of Ericaceae plants to get nectar. Besides nectar, they also catch small insects. They pick insects off leaves or catch them while flying from a perch. This is called hawking.
Reproduction
The empress brilliant's breeding season is from January to April. The few nests that have been found are shaped like cups. They are made from tree fern scales and other plant materials. These materials are held together with spider silk. The inside of the nest is lined with soft seed fluff. Not much else is known about how these birds raise their young.
Their Sounds
One sound the empress brilliant makes is a repeated single "tsit" note. They also make this sound one at a time while hovering and feeding.
Their Status
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) says the empress brilliant is a species of "Least Concern." This means they are not currently in danger of disappearing. However, they only live in a small area. We do not know how many of them there are or if their numbers are changing. No immediate threats have been found. They seem to be quite common and live in some protected areas. Their very wet forest home is still mostly untouched.
 | Leon Lynch |
 | Milton P. Webster |
 | Ferdinand Smith |
