An ABA Code-4 Plain-capped Starthroat (Heliomaster constantii) made several visits to the feeders (1-9) in Mary Jo Ballator’s south yard in Ash Creek Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, on 2 September. Please call 520-378-0773 before visiting and for detailed instructions on visitation procedures.
Plain-capped Starthroat was named in honor of Charles Constant, a 19th Century physician and taxidermist (Hummingbirds of North America, Williamson). It is one of four members of the Heliomaster genus and the only member of the genus to make it into the ABA Area. It is resident from the Pacific Slope of northwest Mexico to northwest Costa Rica. In much of its range, Plain-capped Starthroat is frequently insectivorous, often hawking insects with swift-like flights including glides (Hummingbirds of North American, Williamson). In Arizona, starthroats often visit sugar water feeders and visit the blossoms of flowering plants, especially feeding on flowering agaves after post-breeding dispersals. On their breeding grounds they take nectar from a variety of trees, large cacti, and shrubs where they are often seen using high perches (Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5).
