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FORK-TAILED WOODNYMPH Thalurania furcata
Historically known from very few specimens in Paraguay, you can imagine our surprise when we discovered a healthy population in southern Paraguay in 2004! Furthermore it was the commonest hummingbird in the area, though sampling at the site had never previously located a single specimen. It seems that this species has and is undergoing a recent and very rapid range expansion, capitalising on the removal of much of the Atlantic forest cover in eastern Paraguay to colonise new areas.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - Adult male, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith June 2007).
FIGURE 2 - Adult male, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith July 2007).
FIGURE 3 - Same individual frontal view (Paul Smith July 2007).
FIGURE 4 - Same individual as Fig 1 feeding (Paul Smith June 2007).
FIGURE 5 - Adult male in good light, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith August 2006).
FIGURE 6 - Adult male upperwing, Hotel Tirol, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith August).
FIGURE 7 - Adult male rear view, illustrating how the eyecatching colours of this species are visible only from certain angles Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith February 2007)
FIGURE 8 - Adult female, Hotel Tirol, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith August).
FIGURE 9 - Same individual upperwing, Hotel Tirol, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith August).
VIDEO 1 - Same male as Figs 2 & 3, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith June 2007).
VIDEO 2 - Same individual foraging (Paul Smith June 2007).
VIDEO 3 - Adult female, Encarnaciòn, Departamento Itapùa (Paul Smith April 2007).
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Thalurania furcata
1 male in flight recorded Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith May 2008).
2 female foraging recorded Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith April 2007).
3 female antagonistic call recorded Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith April 2007).
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.