Blue-throated mountaingem

Description

The blue-throated mountaingem, also known as the blue-throated mountain-gem or blue-throated hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae) is a species of hummingbird, a member of the family Trochilidae of birds. The blue-throated mountaingem is a fairly large hummingbird, reaching 11.5 to 12.5 cm (4.5 to 4.9 in) in length and 6 to 10 grams in weight. The blue-throated Hummingbird is dull green on the top of its body, fading to medium gray on its belly. It has a conspicuous white stripe behind its eye and a narrower stripe extending backward from the corner of its bill, bordering a blackish cheek patch. Its tail feathers are iridescent blue-black with broad white tips on the outer two to three pairs. The species gets its name from the adult male's iridescent blue throat patch (gorget), but the female lacks this, having a plain gray throat. The blue-throated mountaingem is native to mountain woodlands of Mexico, although during the summer it is an uncommon to rare resident of moist, wooded canyons in the Madrean sky islands of southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and western Texas in the United States and northeastern Sonora, Mexico. A few individuals traditionally winter at feeding stations in southeastern Arizona. Like other hummingbirds, the blue-throated mountaingem feeds on nectar from flowers and catches insects in flight and by gleaning from vegetation. In winter, sap from wells drilled by sapsuckers may substitute for nectar. The nominate subspecies of blue-throated mountaingem has the largest range. It is found in Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental and central plateau as far south as Oaxaca. L. c. bessophilus is found in southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and in the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango. L. c. phasmorus is positively known only from the Chisos Mountains of southern Texas, where it breeds, but its non-breeding range is not known. The blue-throated mountaingem is found in a variety of moist forest landscapes. In the USA and northern Mexico it occurs in riparian forest (often in canyons), pine-oak forest, and mixed coniferous forest. In central and southern Mexico it tends to favor coniferous forest. In Arizona it is found in the "sky island" mountain ranges, seldom below 1,300 m (4,300 ft) of elevation. Near Mexico City it occurs between 3,600 and 3,900 m (11,800 and 12,800 ft) and in Oaxaca between 2,500 and 3,000 m (8,200 and 9,800 ft).