Rufous-shafted Woodstar Chaetocercus jourdanii Scientific name definitions

These tiny hummingbirds are usually seen on an open perch or hovering like a bee at flowering trees. Males boast a deep reddish-pink gorget and wide white chest band. Females have dark ear patches and are buffy below. Both males and females have a white flank stripe. Rufous-shafted Woodstars inhabit humid and wet forests and their borders, old second growth, and gardens. They forage at all levels both inside and on the edge of forests. Sometimes they steal nectar from flowers defended by larger hummingbirds.

6–8 cm (including moderately long tail). Male has straight black bill; upperparts bottle green; throat violet, breast white, rest of underparts green, white patch on flanks behind wing; tail deeply forked, black with orange shafts. Eclipse male has throat cinnamon. Female is bronzy-green above; underparts rufous; tail two-lobed, cinnamon with dark subterminal bar, central rectrices green. Juvenile resembles adult female. Male of race rosae has throat rosy crimson; andinus is similar to previous, but throat more rosy, less purple. Male closely recalls C. heliodor, but has rounded (rather than flared) sides to gorget, upperparts appear paler (less blue-) green and has longer tail with rufous shafts and base (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Female can be distinguished from same sex of C. heliodor and Calliphlox amethystina by bicoloured (dark and rufous) tail (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Scrub, edge of montane forest, coffee plantations, occasionally sub-páramo, at 900–3000 m, although some authorities consider that records above 2500 m are doubtful (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Forages mainly in middle to upper strata, but also at low flowers (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Seasonal altitudinal dispersal recorded in Venezuela, where moves lower during rainy season (May–Nov) and is seen occasionally in mountains of Aragua in Jan–Mar and near Rancho Grande Biological Station in Jun (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Has been recorded feeding on nectar of flowering Inga trees. Insects are caught in the air by hawking; employs same foraging strategy as C. mulsant.

Male sings from treetop, a lising 3–4-note “tssit, tssit, tssit, tssit” (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Birds in breeding condition and two immature individuals noted in Nov, Colombia. No further information available.

Not globally threatened. CITES II. Rare to locally common. Reported to be very rare in Trinidad, where most sightings are from Northern Range and most are in Jan–Jun, although there is also a recent record in Aug (2 ffrench, R. and Hayes, F.E. (1998). Rare bird records from Trinidad & Tobago in 1997. Cotinga. 9: 84–85. Close ), and the first documented records of male-plumaged birds on the island were as recently as 2008 (3 Kenefick, M. (2012). Report of the Trinidad and Tobago Rare Birds Committee: rare birds in 278788–178. Cotinga 34:100–105. Close ). No immediate threats recorded, and species seems to accept man-made habitats like plantations. Occurs in Henri Pittier National Park (Venezuela).