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Snowcap

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455: 51: 117: 428: 75: 708: 696: 339: 390:. It is more common at openings in the forest and more open landscapes such as plantations than deep in the forest. In Costa Rica it breeds mostly at elevations between 300 and 800 m (980 and 2,600 ft) but locally as high as 1,000 m (3,300 ft). In Panama it is found between 600 and 1,650 m (2,000 and 5,400 ft). 364:
differ by having less white on the tail feathers and a brighter coppery purple gloss to their upper- and underparts. Adult females of both subspecies have a metallic green back with bronze uppertail coverts. Their underparts are pale grayish white. Their central tail feathers are bronze and the outer
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in loose groups of up to six, singing from a perch and chasing other males. Females build a small cup nest of tree fern scales and plant down bound with spiderweb, with some moss and lichen on the outside. It is typically placed on a twig or dangling vine between 1.7 and 3 m (6 and 10 ft)
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has assessed the snowcap as being of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified by the IUCN. In Costa Rica it is locally common, but "severe deforestation threatens many parts of its range".
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is the more northerly and widely distributed of the two. It is found on the Caribbean slope of Central America from southern Honduras through Nicaragua and Costa Rica and possibly into western Panama; it also occurs locally on Costa Rica's Pacific slope. The nominate
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The snowcap is 6.5 to 7 cm (2.6 to 2.8 in) long and weighs about 2.7 g (0.095 oz). Both sexes of both subspecies have a short black bill and black legs. Adult males of both subspecies have the white forehead and crown that give this species its
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Snowcaps forage for nectar at all heights of their habitat, from the understory to the canopy. Males defend feeding territories from other snowcaps but defer to larger hummingbirds. They typically take nectar from small flowers of
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ones mostly black with white at the base and on the tips. Immature males are like the adult female with the addition of a narrow white line above the eye and a gradual change of the whitish underparts to purplish black.
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In Costa Rica, snowcaps mostly descend to lower elevations after breeding but a few individuals wander higher than their breeding zone to about 1,400 m (4,600 ft).
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HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at:
360:. Their face and underparts are black with a reddish purple gloss. Their central tail feathers are metallic bronze and the rest have white bases and black ends. Males of 1106: 882: 356:
and scientific names. Males of the nominate subspecies have dark purple upperparts with a purplish black nape and a reddish gloss on the back, rump, and uppertail
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In Costa Rica snowcaps breed between January and May; their season elsewhere has not been defined. Males court females at
1096: 1091: 807: 762: 712: 116: 926: 31: 657:), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. 1101: 934: 241: 939: 794: 724: 445:
above the ground. The clutch size is two eggs; the incubation period and time to fledging are not known.
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is found on the Caribbean and Pacific slopes of western Panama. The species inhabits humid lowland and
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http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip
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tsitsup tsitsup tsitsup tsew ttttt-tsew or tsip-tsee tsippy tsippy tsippy tsip-tick tsew
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in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in
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The male snowcap's song is "a soft, sputtering, warbling melody:
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Female Snowcap photographed by Carole Turek of Hummingbird Spot
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This article is about the hummingbird. For other uses, see
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Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (August 2022).
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Kistler, E. and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Snowcap (
549:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22687649A93162554.en 448: 420:from foliage, and males take small insects by 8: 327:. The nominate was originally described as 719: 649: 647: 645: 643: 641: 639: 637: 635: 487:." One call is "a soft, high-pitched, dry 73: 49: 40: 594: 592: 590: 547: 513: 1107:Hummingbird species of Central America 659:https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.snowca1.01 519: 517: 1117:Taxa named by George Newbold Lawrence 255: 7: 316:The snowcap has two subspecies, the 1082:IUCN Red List least concern species 535:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 675:A guide to the birds of Costa Rica 25: 706: 694: 453: 115: 524:BirdLife International (2016). 469:Listen to snowcap on xeno-canto 1: 386:, semi-open woodlands, and 1133: 29: 661:retrieved August 28, 2022 254: 249: 230: 223: 112:Scientific classification 110: 93: 71: 62: 57: 48: 43: 629:retrieved August 7, 2022 542:: e.T22687649A93162554. 369:Distribution and habitat 312:Taxonomy and systematics 1112:Birds described in 1855 992:Microchera-albocoronata 763:Microchera albocoronata 733:Microchera albocoronata 701:Microchera albocoronata 655:Microchera albocoronata 528:Microchera albocoronata 333:Panychlora parvirostris 329:Mellisuga albo-coronata 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Index

Microchera albocoronata
Snow cap

Conservation status
Least Concern
IUCN 3.1
CITES
CITES
Scientific classification
Edit this classification
Eukaryota
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Strisores
Apodiformes
Trochilidae
Microchera
Binomial name
Lawrence
hummingbird
Costa Rica
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
nominate

English
coverts
montane forest

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