Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this web-site were taken by Paul Smith, Hemme Batjes, Regis Nossent, Frank Fragano,
Alberto Esquivel, Arne Lesterhuis, José Luis Cartes, Rebecca Zarza,
and Hugo del Castillo and are used with their permission.
PLOVERCREST Stephanoxis lalandi ATLANTIC FOREST
Click here to read articles about this species.
Many wonderful and strange birds inhabit the Atlantic Forest of eastern Paraguay, but one of the most fascinating of all is this lovely little hummingbird - the only one with a crest. It is a lekking species, males gathering together to display for passing females. The male selects his perch and calls repeatedly whilst moving his head stiffly side to side so that the sun reflects off his purple crest. When a female approaches he will leap from his perch and perform a rapid side to side flight, before resuming his head turning. Males that sufficiently impress the female are rewarded with the chance to have their genes represented in the next generation.
FIGURE 1 - Adult male, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Sylvia Qu May 2008 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
FIGURE 2 - Adult male ventral view, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Sylvia Qu May 2008 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
FIGURE 3 - Adult male, Hotel Tirol, Departamento Itapúa (Regis Nossent June).
FIGURE 4 - Adult female ventral view, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Sylvia Qu June 2008 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
FIGURE 5 - Adult female flight, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Sylvia Qu June 2008 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
FIGURE 6 - Adult female, Hotel Tirol, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith August).
FIGURE 7 - Adult female upperwing, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith February - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
VIDEO - Adult male, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
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Stephanoxis lalandi foraging song recorded PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007 - ECOSARA Biodiversity Database).
Click the link to hear the call. Longer versions of this call can be downloaded from the Paraguay page of our partner website Xeno-Canto - the largest collection of freely downloadable Neotropical bird calls available online.