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Plain-capped Starthroat Hummingbird
Scientific name: Heliomaster constantii
Length: 5 1/2 inches (14 cm)
Identification: One of the larger hummingbirds with a noticeably long bill.
Dull blackish gorget (throat), white eye stripe, white mustache (under the eye and
on both sides of bill), dull bronze-green uppers, and white patch on back and rump,
the female and male are similar in appearance.
Habitat and range: The Heliomaster constantii is found in Mexico and
Central America, occasionally making its way into southern Arizona.
FYI: Though a hummingbird's legs are little used for walking, they are used
for perching and scratching their head. A hummingbird, who flies into a room or enclosure,
may initially seek to escape by flying higher to the ceiling, but they have the intelligence
to explore and find an open window. Sleeping hummingbirds roost with their necks
retracted and their bills pointed straight ahead. Source: Alexander F. Skutch,
The Life of the Hummingbird (New York: Vineyard Books, Inc., 1973), p. 58. Most
birds take off by leaping into the air by pushing away from their perch, but the
hummingbird lifts off by rapidly moving its wings -- gaining as much by the upstroke
as the downstroke -- actually pulling their branch perch upwards before they let
go. Source: "Hummingbird," The International Wildlife Encyclopedia,
1969, Vol. 9, p. 1136.
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