About Heliothryx barroti (Bourcier, 1843)
Size and Weight
The purple-crowned fairy, Heliothryx barroti, is 9 to 13 cm (3.5 to 5.1 in) long and weighs approximately 5.5 g (0.19 oz).
General Plumage and Build
It has a slender build, with bright emerald green upperparts, pure white underparts, and a long pointed tail that has blue-black central feathers and white outer feathers. A black patch runs through the eye, and the short, straight bill is black.
Male Plumage Characteristics
Males have a metallic violet forecrown; their eye patch has a metallic violet spot behind it and bright emerald green below it.
Female Plumage Characteristics
Females have a green crown, less black on the face, and lack both the violet spot and the green patch below the black.
Immature Plumage Characteristics
Immature birds have cinnamon fringes on their upperpart plumage, and sparse dusky spots on the throat and breast.
Geographic Distribution
The species ranges from eastern Chiapas and southern Tabasco in Mexico, through the Caribbean slopes of Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, across both slopes of Costa Rica and much of Panama, to the Pacific slopes of Colombia, Ecuador, and far northern Peru. In Colombia, it is also found as far east as the lower Magdalena River valley.
Elevation Range
Its elevation range reaches from sea level to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Mexico and northern Central America, up to 1,675 m (5,500 ft) in Costa Rica, 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Colombia, and 800 m (2,600 ft) in Ecuador.
Habitat
It lives in the canopy and edges of humid lowland forest, shady plantations, and mature secondary forest.
