Santa Marta woodstar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Santa Marta woodstar |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Genus: | Chaetocercus |
| Species: |
C. astreans
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| Binomial name | |
| Chaetocercus astreans (Bangs, 1899)
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| Synonyms | |
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Acestrura astreans, Chaetocercus heliodor astreans |
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The Santa Marta woodstar (Chaetocercus astreans) is a tiny hummingbird found only in Colombia. It's part of a group called "bee hummingbirds" because they are so small! This special bird lives only in one specific mountain range.
Contents
About the Santa Marta Woodstar
How Scientists Classify This Bird
Scientists group living things to understand them better. The Santa Marta woodstar belongs to the Chaetocercus group of hummingbirds. For a while, it was thought to be a type of gorgeted woodstar. But now, scientists agree it's its own unique species. This means it's the only one of its kind, not divided into smaller groups.
What Does the Santa Marta Woodstar Look Like?
This hummingbird is about 7 cm (2.8 in) long. That's about the length of your finger! Both male and female birds have a straight, black beak.
The male has a shiny green head. The rest of his upper body is a dark, shiny bluish color. He has a bright reddish patch on his throat, called a gorget, which spreads across his neck. His chest is gray, and his belly is bluish with a white spot on each side. His tail is forked, meaning it splits into two points. The middle feathers are very short, and the outer ones are mostly bare.
The female is bronzy green on her upper body. Her underside is a pale, reddish-brown color. She has a dark patch on her cheek and, like the male, a white spot on her sides. Her tail is rounded, with green central feathers. The other tail feathers are cinnamon-colored with a black stripe near the end.
Where Does This Hummingbird Live?
The Santa Marta woodstar lives only in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. This mountain range is isolated, meaning it's separate from other mountains.
These birds like to live at the edges of montane forest (mountain forests). They also live in semi-open woodlands and even coffee farms. Sometimes, they visit the lower parts of the páramo, which is a type of high-altitude grassland. You can find them at elevations between 825 and 2,000 m (2,700 and 6,600 ft) above sea level.
Life and Habits of the Santa Marta Woodstar
How Does It Move?
We don't know much about how the Santa Marta woodstar moves around. However, scientists think it might move to different elevations depending on the season.
What Does It Eat?
The Santa Marta woodstar eats nectar from flowers and small insects. We don't have many details about its diet. Scientists believe it eats and finds food in a similar way to its close relative, the gorgeted woodstar. The gorgeted woodstar feeds from the middle to the top parts of plants. Inga trees are an important food source for them.
These tiny birds don't usually protect their feeding areas. Because they are so small and fly slowly, like a bumblebee, they can sometimes feed in areas that other hummingbirds usually defend.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Sadly, almost nothing is known about how the Santa Marta woodstar breeds or its phenology (the timing of its life events).
How Does It Communicate?
The sounds the Santa Marta woodstar makes have not been recorded very often. What might be its song is described as "a regularly repeated, single, squeaky note that changes pitch." When it's hovering or feeding, it makes "a series of single liquid 'tsit' notes or a doubled 'ti-tsit'" calls.
Conservation Status
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has listed the Santa Marta woodstar as a species of "Least Concern." This means it's not currently in danger of disappearing. Even though it lives in a small area and we don't know its exact population size, scientists believe its numbers are stable.
It's considered common in its local area. It can also live in places changed by humans, like coffee farms. However, some of its natural forest home is being cut down, which is a threat.
See also
In Spanish: Colibrí astral para niños
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