Howdy, friends. On Friday afternoon Mrs. Killsock was finally discharged from the hospital and is now back in her pillow fort in the bedroom. Aside from a couple of days at home before it turned out she was immediately needed back in the hospital, she has been there since I returned from work to find her slumped in pile of fallen masonry on the night of December 29th. The journey isn’t over yet, but its very good to have her convalescing back home.

Anyway, it is my great pleasure to bring you some birds. Our bird this week is the black-throated mango (BTM). This tiny hummingbird lives in every mainland South American country except Chile, as well as Trinidad and Tobago. I’m not sure if we have come across this before, but this bird has a “decurved” bill, which actually means that it is curved. Inflammable means flammable and so forth.

The black-throated mango can live in a variety of habitats, including the edges of dense forests, gallery forests (along bodies of water), shade grown coffee plantations and cacao plantations. It will also live in gardens in areas inhabited by people. It usually sticks to lower altitudes, but has been observed at altitudes as high as “1,400 m (4,600 ft) in Venezuela, 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in Colombia, and 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in eastern Brazil.”

Research about whether it migrates is scarce. It is generally considered sedentary, but there is some evidence that it will move so as to be near flowering plants as various ones bloom. BTM primarily eats nectar from trees, and seems to prefer ones which are tall. It will also catch some insects while in flight, and very occasionally will pick an insect meal of opportunity off of a leaf.

The female constructs a small nest out of shoots and lichen and binds it all together with spider silk. The nest is most often saddle shaped and will be placed on a tree branch devoid of leaves or on a set of utility wires. One example in Ecuador was found in a tree inhabited by stinging ants. Although they would serve to deter predators, this is the only observed example, so we don’t yet know if the little birds selected this site on purpose to gain that advantage. The black-throated mango is considered “of least concern” by the IUCN on account of its enormous range and presumed large population, which appears to be holding steady. Be good to yourselves and others, friends. You’re the only you we’ve got.

Links: https://tinyurl.com/4ax7fa2j,  https://tinyurl.com/mrv6zwxp, https://tinyurl.com/474474tn,  https://tinyurl.com/2sktvn93,  https://tinyurl.com/545p6ums,  https://tinyurl.com/4939f353