Black eared Fairy (Heliothryx auritus)

[order] Apodiformes | [family] Trochilidae | [latin] Heliothryx auritus | [UK] Black-eared Fairy | [FR] Colibri oreillard | [DE] Schwarzohr-Schmuckkolibri | [ES] Colibri Hada Oriental | [IT] Capello di sole orecchie nere | [NL] Zwartkop-feeunkolibrie

A medium-sized tropical hummingbird. It has bright green upperparts, white underparts and a black mask. The relatively short, straight bill is black. The graduated tail is blue-black in the center, with white outer tail feathers (i.e. typically appear blue-black from above, white from below). Depending on subspecies, the male has a green malar or throat. The female is similar, but with a longer tail and no green malar/throat.

It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Wet lowland forest, forest edges. Forages in middle strata to canopy in forest.

Breeds all year around, nest is a cup made of down attached to a branch about 3-30 meter above ground. Clutch size is 2 eggs incubated by female for about 15 days. Young fledge after 23-26 days. First brood in second year.

This hummingbird hawks small insects in the air, as well as gleaning them from foliage. When feeding on nectar, it sometimes pierces a small hole at the base of large flowers, giving access to nectar that otherwise only is accessible to hummingbirds with longer bills.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 6,900,000 km2. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population size criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., less than 10,000 mature individuals in conjunction with appropriate decline rates and subpopulation qualifiers), even though the species is described as ‘uncommon’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Considered sedentary, allthough some movements in Brazil are known.