Purple-crowned Fairy

Heliothryx barroti (Bourcier, 1843)

Purple-crowned Fairy, Heliothryx barroti, is a hummingbird of Middle America and South America, breeding from se Mexico to sw Ecuador. It lives in humid lowland forest, forest edges, shady plantations and mature secondary forest, and it stays in the same areas year-round. A slender bird, it is marked by a metallic violet forecrown in the male, while the female shows a green crown and lacks the violet facial spot. It forages mainly in the mid-story and canopy, taking nectar and small arthropods, especially spiders.

Order

Apodiformes

Family

Trochilidae — Hummingbirds

Breeding range

Middle America, South America: se Mexico to sw Ecuador