Antillean crested hummingbird

The Antillean crested hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, north-east Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, semiarid forest and heavily degraded former forest. It demonstrates the general sexual dimorphism for hummingbirds where the male is bright and colorful whilst the female is more tanish and dull.[2]

Antillean crested hummingbird
Antillean crested hummingbird in Morne Diablotins National Park, Dominica

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Orthorhyncus
Lacépède, 1799
Species:
O. cristatus
Binomial name
Orthorhyncus cristatus
Synonyms

Trochilus cristatus Linnaeus, 1758

Its diet consists of arthropods and nectar from flowers.[3] It breeds year round but for the most part between March and June.[4]

This species holds the first record of any avian species that became prey to an amblypygid, otherwise known as a Tailless Whipscorpion.[5] The Antillean crested hummingbird had also been observed attacking the nest of a saddled anoles (Anolis stratulus).[6]

Subspecies
  • O. c. exilis (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) – E Puerto Rico S through Lesser Antilles to St Lucia.
  • O. c. ornatus Gould, 1861 – St Vincent.
  • O. c. cristatus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Barbados.
  • O. c. emigrans Lawrence, 1877 – Grenadines and Grenada.


  • Antillean crested hummingbird feeding at a flower in Dominica
  • Nest and eggs MHNT


References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Orthorhyncus cristatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Wolf, Larry L. (July 1975). "Female Territoriality in the Purple-Throated Carib". The Auk. 92 (3): 511–522. doi:10.2307/4084604. JSTOR 4084604.
  3. "Antillean Crested Hummingbird - Introduction | Neotropical Birds Online". neotropical.birds.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  4. "Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus)". www.hbw.com. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  5. Cokendolpher, James C.; Owen, Jennifer L. (September 2006). "Tailless Whipscorpion (Phrynus longipes) Feeds on Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus)". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 118 (3): 422–423. doi:10.1676/05-062.1. ISSN 1559-4491.
  6. Boal, Clint (November 2008). "Observations of An Antillean Crested Hummingbird (Orthorhyncus cristatus) attacking Saddled Anoles (Anolis stratulus)". Journal of Caribbean Ornithology. 21 (1).


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