Violet-headed hummingbirds are on average in length with a short, straight bill that averages in length. The head and throat of the male are intense violet or blue with white spots behind each eye that stands out against the dark head. The back is metallic bluish-green and breast is green fading to a grey belly. The tail is green with tiny white-grey tail spots. The wings are black. The female is duller with a blue cap, green back and grey throat, breast and belly. The wings and tail are the same as the male. The female also has the white spot behind the eye.
Taxonomy
The violet-headed hummingbird was described by Jules Bourcier in 1843. The species name is after M. Guimet who was a chemist from Lyons, France. It is in the hummingbird family.
Range
The violet-headed hummingbird ranges from Central America well into South America. This includes Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama in Central America and western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northern Brazil, western Venezuela and northern Bolivia. The species tends to be local in distribution, common in some areas and rare in other seemingly identical areas. The violet-headed hummingbird occurs in the mountains and has been recorded to occur from in Costa Rica, from in Colombia and in Venezuela.
In Costa Rica, males sing in loose leks beginning in October and intensifying until the breeding season in December. The chorus continues until the dry season causes the flowers to disappear in February and March. The chorus picks up again when the rains begin again in April, but the heavy rains of May shut the chorus down again until October. The leks are located above the ground on the edge of clearings where the males sing conspicuously from slender dead twigs. Occasionally, an individual will sing solo without other violet-headed hummingbirds nearby. The nest is a mossy cup built above forested mountain streams. They are normally built in February, but sometimes as early as January. The last young fledge in May.
Diet
The violet-headed hummingbird drinks nectar from understory flowering shrubs as well as taking small insects on the wing. In Costa Rica, a particular fondness for Stachytarpheta flowers has been reported with as many as one individual every on a hedge near Murcia.
Relationship with humans
The violet-headed hummingbird has been designated as a species of Least Concern due to its large range and ability to exist in human modified habitat. The flowering shrubs near Murcia, Costa Rica, were reported to be in an area cleared for agriculture with very few trees.
