Diet and Foraging

Black Inca visits red and yellow flowers with long tubular corollas of epiphytes and shrubs, such as Fuchsia, Bomarea, Aetanthus, Aphelandra, Palicourea, Psammisia, and Thibaudia) (Snow and Snow 1980, Salaman and Lopez-Lanus 2002). This hummingbird also gleans and captures small arthropods (Daza and Villamarín 2006).

In a study that evaluated the use of floral resources by Black Inca, in the municipality of Arcabuco , department of Boyacá, the most frequently visited plant was Abutilon sp., and there also was a high rate of visitation to Bomarea caldasii; both of these are introduced species. The Inca demonstrated a preference for native flowers of the forest when these were available in abundance, such as Tillandsia sp. (Bromeliaceae), Fuchsia venusta (Onagraceae ) and Cavendishia pubescens (Ericaceae) (Suárez-Pinzón and Torres-Pineda 2009). In the Reserva Biológica, the plant most frequently visited by Black Inca was Psammisia penduliflora (Ericaceae), followed by Satirya sp. (Ericaceae), Fuchsia venusta (Onagraceae), Cavendishia sp. (Ericaceae), and Palicourea vaginata (Daza and Villamarín 2006). In the Serranía de los Yariguíes, in the department of Santander, this species frequently feeds on Cavendishia (Ericaceae) and Psittacanthus (Loranthaceae) (Donegan and Briceño 2005).