{"id":246966,"date":"2026-02-06T06:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fauna\/mountain-avocetbill\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:09:08","slug":"mountain-avocetbill","status":"publish","type":"fauna","link":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/faune-2\/mountain-avocetbill\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain Avocetbill"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opisthoprora euryptera<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":246686,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"collection":[],"country":[11],"fauna-group":[27488],"fauna-type":[27217],"class_list":["post-246966","fauna","type-fauna","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","country-colombia","fauna-group-hummingbirds","fauna-type-birds"],"acf":{"scientific_name":"Opisthoprora euryptera","animal_description":"The Mountain Avocetbill (*Opisthoprora euryptera*) is a distinctive hummingbird native to the high-altitude elfin forests and p\u00e1ramo of the Andes in South America. Its most remarkable feature is its short, black bill, which curves sharply upward at the tip, a specialized adaptation reminiscent of the shorebird for which it is named. This medium-sized bird is adorned with shimmering bronze-green upperparts and a white underbelly heavily streaked with dusky green, while its warm, cinnamon-colored undertail coverts provide a striking flash of color. Beyond its unique silhouette, the Mountain Avocetbill is known for its specialized foraging behavior, often seen hovering with precision or clinging to tubular flowers to access nectar in the misty, rugged terrain of its cloud forest habitat.","animal_habitat":"This hummingbird is restricted to the high-altitude regions of the Andes, spanning from central Colombia through Ecuador to northern and central Peru. It is typically found at elevations between 2,600 and 3,600 meters, inhabiting a relatively narrow ecological belt primarily along the eastern slopes of the mountain range.\n\nIts preferred habitats include humid montane forests, stunted elfin forests, and the shrubby borders of high-elevation woodlands. Within these environments, it favors dense thickets and areas rich in flowering plants, where it can forage in the cool, misty climate characteristic of the Andean treeline.","animal_behavior_and_reproduction":"Primarily solitary in nature, this hummingbird exhibits territorial behavior when defending rich nectar sources within its humid montane habitat. Its unique upturned bill is specialized for feeding on specific floral structures, often piercing the base of flowers or reaching nectar that other species cannot access. Beyond its diet of nectar, it frequently engages in hawking to capture small insects mid-flight. Social interactions are generally limited to brief territorial disputes or the mating season, as individuals do not form stable flocks or long-term social groups.\n\nReproductive strategies follow the typical pattern of most hummingbirds, where the female assumes all parental duties. Breeding involves brief courtship displays by the male, after which the female constructs a compact, cup-shaped nest using moss, lichen, and spider silk for structural integrity. These nests are often well-concealed in dense undergrowth or attached to pendulous branches to avoid predation. A standard clutch consists of two white eggs, which the female incubates alone. After hatching, the young are fed a protein-rich diet of insects and nectar until they are ready to fledge and become independent.","diet":"The Mountain Avocetbill sustains itself primarily on a diet of floral nectar and small arthropods, utilizing its unique, sharply upturned bill to access food sources in high-altitude Andean forests. Unlike many hummingbirds that probe deep into tubular flowers, this species often engages in nectar robbing by using its specialized bill to pierce the base of corollas, allowing it to bypass the plant's reproductive structures to reach the sugar-rich liquid. It shows a preference for the nectar of plants within the Ericaceae and Rubiaceae families, frequently visiting flowers that are held horizontally or hang downwards. To supplement its caloric intake with essential proteins, the Mountain Avocetbill also hunts small insects and spiders, capturing them through aerial hawking or by gleaning them directly from the surface of leaves and moss. This combination of specialized nectar extraction techniques and opportunistic insectivory ensures its survival in the competitive and demanding alpine ecosystems it inhabits.","colors":"The Mountain Avocetbill displays shining grass-green upperparts contrasted by a coppery-brown crown and a small white spot behind each eye. Its underparts are pale gray, heavily streaked with dusky green to provide camouflage within the shadows of Andean cloud forests. The dark, forked tail features white-tipped outer feathers, while its most distinctive physical trait is a sharply upturned, black bill.","fun_facts":"The Mountain Avocetbill is distinguished by its remarkably upturned, needle-like bill, which curves sharply upward at the tip to mimic the profile of an avocet. This specialized anatomy allows it to engage in \"nectar robbing,\" where it pierces the base of long, tubular flowers to bypass the plant's pollination mechanism and steal a meal. A dedicated \"trap-liner,\" it follows a precise daily route over long distances to visit scattered blossoms rather than defending a single territory. When feeding, it often adopts a unique posture, cocking its tail upward to maintain balance while hovering in the thin, high-altitude air of the Andean cloud forests.","conservation_status_&_efforts":"This species is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, with a population trend that is considered stable despite being naturally uncommon throughout its restricted range in the Andes. The primary threats include habitat loss and fragmentation driven by deforestation for agriculture, cattle ranching, and timber extraction. Furthermore, its specialized reliance on high-altitude elfin forests and p\u00e1ramo borders makes it potentially vulnerable to the long-term ecological shifts associated with climate change.\n\nSpecific conservation measures dedicated solely to this hummingbird are currently lacking; however, its range overlaps with several significant protected areas, such as Podocarpus National Park in Ecuador and various reserves in Colombia and Peru. Current efforts focus on broad-scale habitat preservation and the maintenance of montane forest corridors. Continued monitoring of its population density and habitat requirements is essential to ensure that regional land-use changes do not trigger a decline in the future.","endemic":false,"conservation_status":"Least Concern","ebird_link":{"url":"https:\/\/ebird.org\/species\/mouavo1","title":"View on Ebird","target":"_blank"},"animal_related_page":{"url":"https:\/\/animalia.bio\/mountain-avocetbill","title":"View on Animalia","target":"_blank"},"fauna_family":"Trochilidae","fauna_known_nicknames":"None","fauna_average_length":"9.5\u201310.5 cm \/ 3.7\u20134.1 in","fauna_average_weight":"5.8\u20136.6 g \/ 0.20\u20130.23 oz","fauna_wingspan":"12\u201314 cm \/ 4.7\u20135.5 in","fauna_key_physical_feature":"Short, black bill with a distinct upward curvature at the tip","fauna_primary_diet":"Nectarivore and Insectivore","fauna_geographical_range":"Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Northern Peru","fauna_preferred_habitat":"High-altitude humid montane forests and elfin forest edges","fauna_social_structure":"Solitary","fauna_breeding_site":"Small cup-shaped nest in dense foliage","fauna_conservation_status":"Least Concern (LC)","fauna_population_trend":"Stable","fauna_spanish_name":"Colibr\u00ed picolezna monta\u00f1\u00e9s","fauna_french_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fauna\/246966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fauna"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fauna"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=246966"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=246966"},{"taxonomy":"fauna-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fauna-group?post=246966"},{"taxonomy":"fauna-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remote-expeditions.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fauna-type?post=246966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}