#microchera

Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Costa Rica

By Joseph C. Boone, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Etymology: Small Widow

First Described By: Gould, 1858

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Strisores, Daedalornithes, Apodiformes, Trochilidae, Trochilinae

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Since 10,000 years ago, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

Snowcaps are known primarily from Central America 

Physical Description: Snowcaps are very small birds - being hummingbirds! They range between 6 and 6.5 centimeters in length, making them only a tad bigger than the smallest dinosaurs of all, the Bee Hummingbirds! All sexes are iridescent - brilliantly shiny and colorful. The males are red, with black wings and a black face; while the females are green and blue with red tails, black wings, and white bellies. They have long, narrow, pointed beaks, that are black in color. They, like other hummingbirds, have very tiny feet, that are rarely used. Their wings are short and triangular, built for hovering, as in all other Hummingbirds. They are named for the white patches on the foreheads of the males!

Diet: Like other hummingbirds, they primarily eat nectar - specifically the nectar of small flowers on trees and shrubs. They will supplement their diet with insects as well. 

By Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, CC BY 2.0 

Behavior: Snowcaps spend most of their time hovering around flowers, staying aloft in the air in order to reach into the flower with their beaks and pull out nectar. Males will often defend their food very territorial, but it will run away from larger hummingbirds. They make very soft, warbling melodies, as well as more high-pitched zipping and buzzy noises when fighting each other. They do not tend to migrate, but will go up and down from highlands to lowlands depending on the breeding or nonbreeding season. They tend to breed during the early wet season or late dry season, with the males singing soft warbles on the forest edge to attract mates. They make tiny cups of tree-fern scales, using moss and lichen to bind up the cup - which is hung a few meters up into the tree. Two eggs are laid in the clutch, and the female does most of the incubation for about two weeks. She then feeds the young regurgitated nectar.

Ecosystem: Snowcap hummingbirds live on forest edges and in tropical rainforest, frequenting the canopy and subcanopy (when male) and the understory when female. They rarely ascend into higher elevations.

Other: These hummingbirds are not threatened with extinction, remaining very common throughout its range even though deforestation affects some habitats.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut 

Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Costa Rica

Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Costa Rica

Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Costa Rica