The Rainbow-bearded Thornbill (Chalcostigma herrani) has an amazing throat of many colours – it grades from blue green through yellow to red. It is a dark-coloured hummingbird with a rufous crown and a narrow glittering green and red gorget. The upper tail coverts (feathers) are coppery-colored. It inhabits shrubby páramo, stunted woodlands, and rocky slopes below the actual páramo, and is native to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Rainbow-bearded Thornbills typically forage individually and generally cling to flowers when extracting nectar. They also hunt for insects and when foraging on the ground, they flick insects into the air and catch them in their mouths or fly at their prey with bills opened. Hummingbirds are solitary in all aspects of life other than breeding; and the male's only involvement in the reproductive process is the actual mating with the female.
