Green-bearded helmetcrest facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Green-bearded helmetcrest |
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| Male showing chin stripe | |
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| Female | |
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| Genus: |
Oxypogon
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| Species: |
guerinii
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| Synonyms | |
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Ornismya guerinii (protonym) |
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The green-bearded helmetcrest (Oxypogon guerinii) is a super cool type of hummingbird found only in Colombia. It's known for its unique "beard" of feathers, especially on the males! These tiny birds are part of a group called "coquettes" and are truly special to the Andes mountains.
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About Its Name and Family
Scientists like to group living things to understand them better. This is called taxonomy. The green-bearded helmetcrest was first officially described in 1840 by a French bird expert named Auguste Boissonneau. He found a specimen near Bogotá, Colombia.
The bird's scientific name, Oxypogon, comes from ancient Greek words. Oxy means "sharp or pointed," and pogon means "beard." This perfectly describes the bird's pointy beard-like feathers! The species name guerinii honors another French naturalist, Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville. This bird is currently considered a "monotypic" species, meaning it doesn't have any recognized subspecies or different types within it.
You might hear about other "helmetcrests." That's because the green-bearded helmetcrest was once thought to be just one species with four different types. But in 2014, bird experts decided to split it into four separate species. They looked closely at their feathers and body shapes. The other species are the buffy helmetcrest, the blue-bearded helmetcrest, and the white-bearded helmetcrest. Each of these lives in different parts of the Andes mountains.
What It Looks Like
The green-bearded helmetcrest is a small bird, about 11.2 to 12.7 centimeters (4.4 to 5 inches) long. Males weigh around 5.7 grams (0.2 ounces), and females are a bit lighter at 4.8 grams (0.17 ounces). They have a short, straight, black beak.
The adult male is quite striking! It has a long white crest on its head and a mostly dark brown or black face with a white "collar." Its upper body feathers are a shiny bronze color. The most famous part is its thin, sparkling green gorget (throat patch) with white edges, which looks like a "beard." The rest of its underside is grayish-bronze. Its tail is medium-long, forked, and coppery-green with a lot of white on the outer feathers.
The adult female looks similar but doesn't have the fancy crest or the green beard. Her underside is buffy white with some greenish spots. Young birds look a lot like the adult female, but young males will start to grow a small crest and beard.
Where It Lives and Its Home
The green-bearded helmetcrest lives in the Eastern Andes mountains of Colombia. You can find it as far south as the Cundinamarca Department.
It prefers a humid type of grassland called páramo, especially where there are tall, unique plants called Espeletia. Sometimes, it also hangs out at the edge of Polylepis woodlands. Female birds often stay in gorges (narrow valleys), while males prefer more open areas. These birds live at very high elevations, usually between 3,000 and 4,200 meters (9,800 and 13,800 feet) above sea level.
How It Behaves
Movement
These helmetcrests stay in the páramo all year. However, scientists think they might move to high-elevation forests during the dry season. A close relative, the white-bearded helmetcrest, moves from the high páramo in the wet season to lower places in the dry season. The green-bearded helmetcrest might do something similar.
Feeding
The green-bearded helmetcrest loves to drink nectar from many different flowering plants. It especially likes the nectar from Espeletia species. It usually clings to the flowers to feed, but it can also hover. Scientists believe its short, thin beak is perfect for reaching the tiny flowers inside the Espeletia plant heads. Besides nectar, it also eats insects. It catches insects on the ground, by hovering, or by jumping or flying out from a perch to snatch them in the air.
Reproduction
The breeding season for the green-bearded helmetcrest is linked to when the Espeletia plants bloom, usually from May to September. We don't know a lot of details about their breeding habits, but they are thought to be very similar to the white-bearded helmetcrest.
The white-bearded helmetcrest builds a large nest using fibers from Espeletia plants. They place their nests in sheltered spots like cavities or under overhangs to protect them from the sun and rain. The female lays two eggs and sits on them for 21 to 23 days. The young birds leave the nest about 35 to 38 days after hatching.
Vocalization
Not many of the green-bearded helmetcrest's calls have been described. However, one sound is an "insistent 'tii…tii…'" call that males make when they are chasing a female.
Its Conservation Status
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has assessed the green-bearded helmetcrest as a species of "Least Concern." This means it's not currently in immediate danger of disappearing. However, it lives in a limited area, and its population size isn't fully known. It's believed that its numbers might be decreasing. Even so, it's considered common in some places and lives in several protected areas, which helps keep it safe.
See also
In Spanish: Colibrí chivito para niños
