Residential ranges of the sparkling-tailed hummingbird (inked), beautiful hummingbird (hatched), and Mexican sheartail (cross-hatching, plus an arrowhead showing an extralimital breeding location). (Adapted from Howell and Webb, 1995)
Dupont’s hummingbird, Sparkling-tailed woodstar; Chupaflor colipinto, Colibri colipinto, Chupamirto de Dupont (Spanish).
Resident in Mexico from Sinaloa and central Veracruz south and east to the Chiapas–Guatemala border, thence southward in Central America to northern Nicaragua.
None recognized.
Wing, males 33–35 mm (ave. of 10, 34 mm), females 33.5–36 mm (ave. of 8, 34.7 mm). Exposed culmen, males 12.5–13.5 (ave. of 10, 12.9 mm), females 12–14.5 mm (ave. of 8, 13.6 mm) (Ridgway, 1911).
Twelve birds of unspecified sex had a mean mass of 2.2 g (Brown and Bowers, 1985). Three males in the Field Museum had a mean mass of 2.7 g (range 2.4–3.3 g), and 2 females averaged 3.4 g (2.8 and 4.1 g). One male weighed 2.2 g, and 2 females weighed 2.45 and 2.6 g (Binford, 1989). Collectively, these 4 males averaged 2.6 g; the 4 females averaged 3.0 g.
Adult male. The upperparts metallic bronze to bronze-green, the central pair of the highly forked rectrices also metallic bronze-green, but the next pair with purplish black on the inner web, and the remaining pairs mostly purplish black, tipped with white; the two outermost pairs of rectrices crossed by white and rufous bands, and the third with a white spot on the middle of its inner web; a conspicuous white patch on either side of the rump; chin and throat metallic violet-blue, this gorget bounded posteriorly by a grayish white breast-band; other underparts, including the flanks and sides, dark metallic bronze-green; iris brown; feet dusky; bill black.
Residential ranges of the sparkling-tailed hummingbird (inked), beautiful hummingbird (hatched), and Mexican sheartail (cross-hatching, plus an arrowhead showing an extralimital breeding location). (Adapted from Howell and Webb, 1995)
Adult female. Similar to the male, but the forehead duller, and the chin, sides of head, throat, and most underparts cinnamon rufous; a pale cinnamon buff or white patch of feathers on either side of the rump, and the tail much shorter and slightly double-rounded rather than deeply forked; the central pair of rectrices metallic bronze-green, with blackish tips, and the lateral rectrices with blackish subterminal bands and tipped with pale cinnamon-rufous.
Immature male. Similar to the adult female, but with the outer rectrices tipped with white, and with variable green mottling on the underparts; some show a white median band when the tail is closed (Howell and Webb, 1995).
In the hand. This hummingbird has a uniquely short, straight, and black bill (culmen 12–15 mm), and (in adult males) a tail that is deeply forked (outer rectrices 38–47 mm) and spotted with white. This trait is lacking in the short-tailed females, but both sexes have conspicuous white patches on either side of the rump.
In the field. Both sexes of this tiny hummingbird have very short, straight blackish bills and white lateral rump patches that are interrupted in the middle of the rump by green. Adult males have white-spotted, deeply forked tails (not usually evident, since the rectrices are held tightly together in flight), and females are a rich pale cinnamon on the underparts. As with other woodstars, the tail is slightly cocked and is often pumped vertically while the hovering bird forages, the wings then making a loud buzzing sound. Vocalizations include high-pitched chips, and the male’s “song” is a series of thin squeaking notes uttered from an exposed perch.
Associated with open woodlands, especially oak woodlands, brushy areas, thickets, and second-growth habitats, generally ranging in Mexico from a minimum of 500 to about 2500 meters’ elevation. In Oaxaca the birds range from about 900 to 2400 meters’ elevation and occupy humid pine-oak and some adjacent arid pine-oak forests (Binford, 1989). In Guatemala the species ranges from 550 to about 1950 meters’ elevation and is fairly common in open woodlands and second growth (Land, 1970). In Honduras the species is common in cloud forest and pine-oak habitats above 1000 meters, but descends during the non-breeding season into tropical evergreen forest just above sea level (Monroe, 1968).
No movements have been specifically documented, but there is apparently some altitudinal migration downward during the non-breeding season.
Surprisingly little information exists on the species, which is evidently a generalist, feeding on a variety of plants in and away from the forest and forest edges, sometimes hawking insects during extended flights from exposed perches.
No information on the breeding biology of this species is available, but breeding-condition birds have been collected during August (Howell and Webb, 1995). The nest and eggs are apparently still undescribed. In the woodstar genus Calliphlox, the nest is of the usual hummingbird type, consisting of an open cup-like structure, saddled over a more or less horizontal branch or twig.
The questionably valid genus “Philodice” has been erected to include this species and the magenta-throated woodstar of Central America, its obvious nearest relative. Like the other woodstar species, they seem to play the role of small, insect-like traplining generalist in the ecology of tropical hummingbirds.