Animalia Life

Campylopterus rufus
SUBFAMILY
Trochilinae
TAXONOMY
Campylopterus rufus Lesson, 1840, no locality = Guatemala. Monotypic
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Campyloptйre roux; German: Buntschwanz-Degenflьgel; Spanish: Colibri Rojizo Mexicano.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
4.9–5.5 in (12.5–14 cm); female 0.23–0.24 oz (6.6–6.9 g), male 0.32 oz (9 g). Male has medium-sized, slightly decurved black bill; upperparts metallic bronzy-green, postocular spot white; below uniform cinnamon; tail slightly rounded, central pair of rectrices golden-bronze, rest light cinnamon with black subterminal band, edged cinnamon, outermost tail feather cinnamon with lighter edges. Female similar to male, but smaller. Immatures like adults, but with head feathers fringed buffy.
DISTRIBUTION
Pacific slope of Mexico, southern Guatemala and El Salvador.
HABITAT
Rainforest and forest edge, canyons with pine-oak forests, plantations; occurs at 2,950–6,600 ft (900–2,000 m), occasionally at sea-level, most numerous above 3,300 ft (1,000 m).
BEHAVIOR

BEHAVIOR
mostly unknown.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Nectar of flowering Plantago, Erythrina, Salvia, and Castilleja. Insects are caught in the air by hawking. Male occupies feeding territory at nectar-rich sources.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Males form small leks during reproduction. Breeds from April to May in Oaxaca, Mexico. Cup-shaped nest of moss lined with whitish thistle down, externally decorated with lichen, rather exposed on horizontal branch, 3.3–6.6 ft (1–2 m) above the ground. Two eggs; incubation 15–16 days by female. Chicks are blackish with two rows of buffy dorsal down; fledging 23–26 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Restricted-range species. Locally common. Readily accepts human-made habitats such as plantations or pastures with scattered shrubs.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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