Hillstar (original) (raw)

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Genus of birds

Hillstar
female Andean hillstar (Oreotrochilus estella)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Tribe: Lesbiini
Genus: OreotrochilusGould, 1847
Type species
Trochilus estella[1]d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1838
Species
see text

The hillstars are hummingbirds of the genus Oreotrochilus. They are native to the Andes in South America.

The Urochroa hillstars are not closely related.

Their genus contains seven species:[2]

The birds are approximately 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in length with fairly long, slightly decurved black bills. They are sexually dimorphic. The male usually has an iridescent green throat, or bluish-purple in the Ecuadorian hillstar, with dull greenish upperparts and pale flanks. The central underparts are usually black, but are brown in the Andean hillstar. The tail is usually dark with a contrasting white pattern; the pattern is cinnamon in the wedge-tailed hillstar, and the tail is entirely dark in the black-breasted hillstar. The female is duller, with a whitish throat densely spotted with green, white, buff, or cinnamon underparts, and a dark tail with a white pattern.

These highly territorial hummingbirds are found in temperate and alpine grassland, scrub and woodland at altitudes of 1,200 to 5,200 metres (3,900 to 17,100 ft). The Ecuadorian hillstar has been observed nesting at high altitudes on the cliffs of Cotopaxi.[3] This species is known to nest colonially.[4]

Many hillstars feed mainly on shrubs of the Andean plant genus Chuquiraga, and some species may be limited to them.[5]

The genus has undergone allopatric speciation.

  1. ^ "Trochilidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  2. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Hummingbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  3. ^ Smith, G. T. (1969). A high altitude hummingbird on the volcano Cotopaxi. Ibis 111(1), 17-22.
  4. ^ Solano-Ugalde, A. (2008). High in the Andes: Colonial nesting of Ecuadorean Hillstar (Oreotrochilus chimborazo: Trochilidae) under a bridge. Ornitología Colombiana 6, 86-88.
  5. ^ Bleiweiss, R. (1982). The northern limit of the hummingbird genus Oreotrochilus in South America. The Auk 99(2), 376-78.