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Basilinna leucotis

(Vieillot, 1818)

White-eared Hummingbird

G5Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
LowThreat Impact
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103273
Element CodeABNUC25030
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
CITESAppendix II
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderApodiformes
FamilyTrochilidae
GenusBasilinna
Synonyms
Hylocharis leucotis(Vieillot, 1818)
Other Common Names
Saphir à oreilles blanches (FR) Zafiro Oreja Blanca (ES)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Formerly (e.g., AOU 1983, 1998) included in Hylocharis, but see Stiles et al. (2017) for resurrection of Basilinna based on genetic data (McGuire et al. 2014), as anticipated by Howell and Webb (1995) (AOS 2020).
Conservation Status
Rank MethodLegacy Rank calculation - Excel v3.1x
Review Date2015-05-20
Change Date1996-12-02
Edition Date2015-05-20
Threat ImpactLow
Range Extent200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)
Number of OccurrencesUnknown
Rank Reasons
Large range from southwestern United States through much of Mexico to Nicaragua; many collection/observation sites and locations; presumed large population size; probably relatively stable; no major threats.
Range Extent Comments
Range extends from southern Arizona, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas south through the highlands of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to north-central Nicaragua (AOU 1998). The species has been recorded irregularly in summer (and probably breeding) in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico (Animas Mountains) and western Texas (Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains); northernmost populations are migratory southward (AOU 1998). Global elevational range extends from 900 to 3,100 meters (AOU 1998); in Arizona, the species occurs at elevations of 1,500-2,560 meters, with recent nesting documented at 2,195-2,316 meters (Corman and Wise-Gervais 2005).
Occurrences Comments
The number of distinct occurrences or subpopulations has not been determined using standardized criteria, but this species is represented by a large number of observation/collection sites (e.g., see GBIF database, eBird) and locations (as defined by IUCN).
Threat Impact Comments
No major threats are known.
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Habitat includes scrubby growth (especially undergrowth of Madrean evergreen oak forest in highlands), pine woods, pine-oak forest, high mountain fir forest, forest edge, forested mountain canyons, partially open mountain country with scattered trees and shrubs (including previously burned or cleared areas), gardens, and vacant lots with scattered shrubs and flowers. Nests usually are in shrubs (Guatemala) or in fairly low trees (e.g., in oaks in some areas of Mexico) (Johnsgard 1983).

Ecology

In Oaxaca, male territories averaged 430 sq m.

Reproduction

Nesting occurs March-August in northern and central Mexico (Howell and Webb 1995), begins generally in June in Arizona (Corman and Wise-Gervais 2005).Incubation by female, 14-16 days. Young fledge in 23-28 days. Two to three broods per year.
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest/WoodlandForest - ConiferForest EdgeWoodland - HardwoodWoodland - MixedShrubland/chaparralOld field
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN1B
ProvinceRankNative
ArizonaS1Yes
AlabamaSNAYes
New MexicoS2NYes
Threat Assessments
ThreatScopeSeverityTiming
No known threats———

—

Roadless Areas (1)
Arizona (1)
AreaForestAcres
ChiricahuaCoronado National Forest76,876
References (19)
  1. American Ornithological Society (AOS). Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, A. W. Kratter, I. J. Lovette, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2020. Sixty-first Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 137(3):1-24.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  3. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  4. Baltosser, W. H., and P. E. Scott. 1996. Costa's Hummingbird (<i>Calypte costae</i>). No. 251 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors, The birds of North America. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The Amerian Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC. 32pp.
  5. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  6. Bleiweiss, R., J. A. W. Kirsch, and J. C. Matheus. 1994. DNA-DNA hybridization evidence for subfamily structure among hummingbirds. Auk 111:8-19.
  7. Corman, T. E., and C. Wise-Gervais, editors. 2005. Arizona breeding bird atlas. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. x + 636 pp.
  8. Dickinson, E.C. (Editor). 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 1039 pp.
  9. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  10. Johnsgard, P. A. 1983c. Hummingbirds of North America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 304 pp.
  11. McGuire, J. A., C. C. Witt, J. V. Remsen, Jr., A. Corl, D. L. Rabosky, D. L. Altshuler, and R. Dudley. 2014. Molecular phylogenetics and the diversification of hummingbirds. Current Biology 24:1–7.
  12. Montgomerie, R. D. 1979. Energetics of foraging and competition in some tropcial hummingbirds. Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
  13. Ortiz-Pulido, R. and R. Díaz. 2001. Distribución de colibríes en la zona baja del centro de Veracruz, México. Ornitologia Neotropical 12:297-317.
  14. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  15. Powers, D. R., and S. M. Wethington. 1999. Broad-billed Hummingbird (<i>Cynanthus latirostris</i>). No. 430 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 20pp.
  16. Rich, T. D., C. J. Beardmore, H. Berlanga, P. J. Blancher, M.S.W. Bradstreet, G. S. Butcher, D. W. Demarest, E. H. Dunn, W. C. Hunter, E. E. Iñigo-Elias, A. M. Martell, A. O. Panjabi, D. N. Pashley, K. V. Rosenberg, C. M. Rustay, J. S. Wendt, T. C. Will. 2004. Partners in Flight North American landbird conservation plan. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Ithaca, NY. Online. Available: <u><http://www.partnersinflight.org/cont_plan/></u>
  17. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  18. Stiles, F. G., J. V. Remsen, Jr., and J. A. McGuire. 2017. The generic classification of the Trochilini (Aves: Trochilidae): Reconciling classification with phylogeny. Zootaxa 4353:401–424.
  19. Williamson, S. L. 2000. Blue-throated hummingbird (<i>Lampornis clemenciae</i>). No. 531 in A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 16pp.