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Golden-crowned Emerald | Cynanthus auriceps
Goudkruinsmaragdkolibrie | Esmeralda occidental
The Golden-crowned Emerald is a small emerald of western and south-western Mexico. The male has a long, deeply forked tail. The species was formerly placed in the genus Chlorostilbon and is closely related to Canivet's Emerald.
Voice
A dry, rattling chrr, and in chases a fast twitter.
Recording: Isain Contreras Rodríguez — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
8–10 cm, the long-tailed male the largest. The bill is straight and red with a dark tip. The male is glittering green, with a golden-green crown and a long, deeply forked blue-black tail. The female is green above and pale grey below, with a dark ear patch, a white stripe behind the eye and a shorter forked tail with greyish-white tips to the outer feathers.
Confusion species
Canivet's Emerald Cynanthus canivetii lives further east and south; the male has a shorter, less deeply forked tail. Broad-billed Hummingbird Cynanthus latirostris and Turquoise-crowned Hummingbird Cynanthus doubledayi are larger; the males have a blue throat and a short, slightly forked tail. Dusky Hummingbird Phaeoptila sordida is larger and duller, with a tail lacking a deep fork.
Habitat
Dry deciduous forest, thorn scrub, forest edges, riparian growth, scrub and gardens, from sea level to about 1800 m. It feeds low down at flowers of shrubs and herbs, and catches small insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Endemic to the guide area. Along the Pacific side of Mexico, from Sinaloa and Nayarit through Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero to Oaxaca, and in the Balsas basin to Morelos and the south of the State of México.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along the coast of Nayarit and Jalisco, for example around San Blas, and in the dry valleys of Morelos. Often low down at flowering shrubs along forest edges and in gardens.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Fairly common in suitable habitat.
Scientific name
Cynanthus auriceps | (Gould, 1852)
Gould described the species in 1852 as Trochilus (?) auriceps; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cynanthus was introduced in 1827 by Swainson. Cynanthus is Greek, from kuanos 'dark blue' and anthos 'blossom, flower', after the glittering blue plumage. auriceps is Latin, from aurum 'gold' and -ceps '-headed', after the golden-green glittering crown. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mexico (not specified).