Gould’s Jewelfront

Heliodoxa aurescens

Named for the glittering rufous-gold breast patch that catches light like a gem. Found across the western Amazon.

Population: Uncommon; no global population figure published — local Peruvian surveys estimate roughly 1 individual per 100 hectares
Habitat: Understory of humid lowland tropical forest (terra firme and várzea, várzea use often restricted to dry season; also old secondary growth but not young second growth), particularly near forest streams and tree-fall light gaps, only rarely at true forest edges — roughly 250–1,150 m elevation, occasionally to 1,450 m
Fun fact: Both sexes of Gould's Jewelfront sport a distinctive broad rufous chest band that makes the species easy to identify among similar Amazonian hummingbirds.
Range: Western and central Amazonia — from southern Venezuela and Colombia south through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia, and east into central/northwestern Brazil (to Pará)
Diet: Nectarivorous hummingbird, feeding at understory flowers (e.g. bromeliads, Costus) and supplementing with small arthropods hawked from the air (arthropod traces found in ~53% of examined specimens)
Size: 0.115 m

More Hummingbirds