Order
Caprimulgiformes
Family
Trochilidae
Genus
Lophornis
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Tufted Coquette Lophornis ornatus

Lucy Nepstad
Version: 1.0 — Published July 22, 2011

Diet and Foraging

Diet

The Tufted Coquette primarily is nectarivorous, but, as with other hummingbirds, also consumes small insects. Frequently visited flowers include Orange Milkweed Asclepias curassavica, Verbena, or pigeon pea flowers Cajanus cajan (ffrench 1973, Feinsinger et al. 1985). The full range of flowers visited by the Tufted Coquette includes species of Acanthaceaea, Asclepidaceae, Compositae, Euphorbiaceae, Labiatae, Marantaceae, Rubiaceae, and Verbenaceae (Züchner 1999). It has also been observed that the species tends to feed on flowers that do not rely on hummingbirds for pollination, but rather on insects or other pollinators. This means that these other pollinators, such as insects, can directly affect their food availability (Feinsinger et al. 1985).

Foraging Behavior

Recommended Citation

Nepstad, L. (2011). Tufted Coquette (Lophornis ornatus), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.tufcoq1.01