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Plain-capped Starthroat

Heliomaster constantiiOrder: APODIFORMESFamily: Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Plain-capped Starthroat Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Plain-capped Starthroat: Medium-sized hummingbird with iridescent bronze-green upperparts and head, red throat, white face interrupted by black eyestripe, and pale gray underparts. Slightly notched tail is bronze-green with white-tipped black terminal band. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has dark gray-brown throat.

Range and Habitat

Plain-capped Starthroat: Casual to rare visitor to the U.S. in southeast Arizona; common in Mexico. Preferred habitats include tropical deciduous forests, cottonwood-willow streamside forests, and oak woodlands.

Voice Text

"chip", "peeek"

Interesting Facts

 The Plain-capped Starthroat strays casually to southern Arizona in summer and early fall, chiefly to elevations between 4,000 and 5,000 feet.

 While birders most often find them at feeders, this species prefers hawking insects to taking nectar.

 A group of hummingbirds has many collective nouns, including a “bouquet", "glittering", "hover", "shimmer", and "tune” of hummingbirds.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Plain-capped Starthroat
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Hummingbird (Trochilidae)
Species Heliomaster constantii
Length4 - 5 Inches
Wingspan5.5 Inches

Plain-capped Starthroat

Plain-capped Starthroat: Medium-sized hummingbird with iridescent bronze-green upperparts and head, red throat, white face interrupted by black eyestripe, and pale gray underparts. Slightly notched tail is bronze-green with white-tipped black terminal band. Direct and hovering flight.

● Song: "chip", "peeek"

● Foraging & Feeding: Plain-capped Starthroat: Eats insects and nectar; forages by catching insects in mid-air and hover-gleaning insects high in the canopy.

● Breeding & nesting: Plain-capped Starthroat: Two white eggs are laid in a nest made of plant down, lichens, and bits of bark, and built on a branch tip at the forest edge or in a savanna. Incubation ranges from 16 to 19 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Plain-capped Starthroat: Blue-throated Hummingbird has blue-gray underparts, dark blue tail with bold white tip, blue throat (gray in female). Magnificent Hummingbird has black breast and belly and purple crown; female has green tail with pale gray tips on outer feathers.

Flight Pattern

Direct and hovering flight with very rapid wing beats.
Plain-capped Starthroat Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Plain-capped Starthroat: Casual to rare visitor to the U.S. in southeast Arizona; common in Mexico. Preferred habitats include tropical deciduous forests, cottonwood-willow streamside forests, and oak woodlands.
BreedingSolitary nester
PopulationCasual to rare
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight0.2 Ounces