Hummers: Birds with altitude

This (rather large) post has emerged from conversations with Ian Fraser of Environment Tours and explores the variation of Hummingbird species in Peru according to altitude.  Let me start with the only decent photograph I got of a hummingbird: in this case a Bearded Mountaineer.

To reflect the thrust of this post, the photo was taken at an elevation of approximately 3400m near Cusco.

The starting points were the hummingbird species in a checklist of birds in Peru which I found on the net (but did not note the site address and have not been able to relocate it) and a list which Ian compiled from the Field Guide we used.

I reconciled these two sources to a satisfactory level.

• A first issue was the impact of the hyphen police who in one list used terms such as 'Violetear" while the other had "Violet-ear".  This is of course trivial in terms of explaining which species you're on about, but makes computer matching very frustrating.  Resolved fairly easily.
• The second issue was a set of 3species on the 'net list which were not in the field guide.  Checking these through with Avibase I fund that they were regarded by some authorities as subspecies.  In these cases I accorded them the same altitude as for the nominate subspecies.
• A third issue was a residual list of 12 species which I could not locate in the Field Guide.  Again referring to Avibase I found that while the map in Avibase for the species often showed them as present in Peru the linked Wikipedia entry either listed them as 'possible' in Peru or omitted Peru but included neighbouring countries.  I regard this largely as a matter of opinion by the list generators and will ignore the species for this analysis.  I did find one species (the Glittering-bellied Emerald)for which the first record in Peru was June 2007 (coincidentally at a lodge we stayed at) so this subset of 12 could be regarded as probables, but I will ignore them for the purposes of this analysis.
• As a form of balance the Planalto Hermit in the Field Guide (in NE Peru) was not on my alternate list and Avibase doesn't list anywhere near Peru!

Basically I shrug my shoulders and think about the remoteness of the locations and move on!  From here on, I will only concern myself, at most, with the species on both lists.

QRY Ians area range of elevations

323	Reddish Hermit	200	400	200
340	Festive Coquette	200	500	300
338	Black-bellied Thorntail	200	500	300
327	Needle-billed Hermit	200	500	300
345	White-chinned Sapphire	200	600	400
331	Black-throated Mango	200	800	600
324	White-bearded Hermit	200	850	650
319	Rufous-breasted Hermit	200	1000	800
379	Long-billed Starthroat	200	1000	800
381	Amethyst Woodstar	200	1200	1000
330	White-necked Jacobin	200	1200	1000
333	Blue-tailed Emerald	200	1200	1000
325	Eastern Long-tailed Hermit	200	1300	1100
378	Black-eared Fairy	200	1300	1100
328	Gray-breasted Sabrewing	200	1300	1100
332	Fork-tailed Woodnymph	200	1400	1200
334	Goulds Jewelfront	200	1400	1200
343	Sapphire-spangled Emerald	200	1400	1200
344	Golden-tailed Sapphire	200	1700	1500
320	Pale-tailed Barbthroat	200	1800	1600
318	Buff-tailed Sicklebill	200	2800	2600
322	White-browed Hermit	350	1400	1050
336	Sparkling Violetear	400	4500	4100
326	Koepckes Hermit	450	1300	850
342	Rufous-crested Coquette	500	1400	900
339	Wire-crested Thorntail	500	1500	1000
341	Violet-headed Hummingbird	500	1500	1000
321	Green Hermit	500	1800	1300
354	Black-throated Brilliant	600	1250	650
335	Brown Violetear	700	1700	1000
352	Many-spotted Hummingbird	750	1500	750
350	Peruvian Piedtail	750	1500	750
349	Wedge-billed Hummingbird	800	2300	1500
380	White-bellied Woodstar	800	3100	2300
353	Violet-fronted Brilliant	900	2300	1400
329	Swallow-tailed Hummingbird	1000	1500	500
360	Bronzy Inca	1000	2200	1200
368	Booted Racket-tail	1000	2400	1400
348	Green-fronted Lancebill	1000	2500	1500
346	Green-and-white Hummingbird	1000	2750	1750
351	Speckled Hummingbird	1000	2900	1900
337	Green Violetear	1000	3300	2300
364	Long-tailed Sylph	1200	3500	2300
347	White-bellied Hummingbird	1200	3500	2300
355	Fawn-breasted Brilliant	1300	2500	1200
367	Greenish Puffleg	1500	2450	950
359	Chestnut-breasted Coronet	1500	3300	1800
370	Green-tailed Trainbearer	1700	3800	2100
375	Rufous-capped Thornbill	1800	2800	1000
361	Collared Inca	1800	3000	1200
363	Mountain Velvetbreast	1800	3200	1400
365	Amethyst-throated Sunangel	1950	3700	1750
316	Giant Hummingbird	2000	4300	2300
366	Sapphire-vented Puffleg	2400	3500	1100
315	Sword-billed Hummingbird	2400	3600	1200
374	Tyrian Metaltail	2400	4200	1800
373	Purple-backed Thornbill	2500	3600	1100
362	Violet-throated Starfrontlet	2500	3900	1400
357	Shining Sunbeam	2500	4600	2100
317	Great Sapphirewing	2600	3700	1100
356	White-tufted Sunbeam	2600	4100	1500
371	Bearded Mountaineer	2700	3900	1200
369	Black-tailed Trainbearer	2700	4100	1400
372	Scaled Metaltail	2750	3600	850
377	Blue-mantled Thornbill	2800	4500	1700
358	Andean Hillstar	3400	4600	1200
376	Olivaceous Thornbill	3850	4700	850