The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218-228, 2011 
COURTSHIP DISPLAYS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF SCINTILLANT 
(SELASPHORUS SCINTILLA) AND VOLCANO 
(S. FLAMMULA) HUMMINGBIRDS 
CHRISTOPHER J. CLARK, 1 ' TERESA J. FEO,' AND IGNACIO ESCALANTE' 
ABSTRACT.—The natural histories of Volcano (Selasphorus flammula) and Scintillant (5. scintilla) hummingbird' ,ir. 
poorly known. We describe aspects of their breeding behavior with emphasis on courtship displays and sounds that male- 
produced for females. Males of neither species sang undirected song. Males of both species produced a display dive, in 
which they ascended —25 ni in the air and then dove, swooping over the female. Both species produced a pulsed sound fe 
was synchronized with abrupt tail spreads during the bottom of the dive. The second rectrix (R2> of both species wi- 
capable of generating the same sound in a wind tunnel, suggesting these sounds were made by the tail. The dive sound." ! 
the Volcano Hummingbird were louder than those of the Scintillant Hummingbird. Male Scintillant Hummingbirds 
Produced a wing trill in (light, and performed a shuttle display to females in which the wing-beat frequency readied 
~10() Ilz. Males held territories in open areas during the breeding season. Not all territories included abundant floral 
resources, and abundant resources in closed habitat were not defended. The role of resources is unclear in the breedin-i 
system ot these two species. Received 6 May 2010. Accepted l December 2010. 
The basic natural history of most Central and 
South American species is poorly known, com¬ 
pared to North American birds. For example, of 
the seven species in the hummingbird elude 
Selasphorus , courtship displays consisting of both 
dives and shuttle displays have been described for 
Allen's (S. sasin ) (Aldrich 1938. Mitchell 2000). 
Rutous {S. rujus) (Calder 1993. Hurly cl al. 2001), 
and Broad-tailed (S. phtycercus) (Calder and 
Calder 1992) hummingbirds, as well as Calliope 
Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) (Tamm el al. 
1989, Calder and Calder 1994). which is phylo- 
genetically nested within Selasphorus (McGuire 
et al. 2007. 2009). These four species breed in the 
United States and Canada. In contrast, courtship 
displays lor Volcano (5. flammula) and Scintillant 
(5. scintilla) hummingbirds of Costa Rica are only 
known trom the brief descriptions by Stiles 
(1983). and are entirely unknown for the Glow- 
throated Hummingbird ( S . ardens) of Panama. 
Members of Selasphorus and the related genera 
ot Ca/ypte. Archilochus, and Mellisuga perform 
900 ^ a T d spectacular ^unship dives (Clark 
2006. Clark and Feo 2008. Fco and Clark 2010). 
Selasphorus and Archilochus also produce shuttle 
displays tor females (Banks and Johnson 1961 
Hamilton 1965. Hurly et al. 2001. Feo and Clark 
Ec^oov b0 m lF U T l,m ° f Na,Ural Histor >- Apartment ol 
Box 20810b m T™ 7 Bi0l °^ Yalc University, P. o, 
box 208106. New Haven, CT 0651 I, USA. 
* Escuela dc Biologia. Universjdad de Costa Rica, Ciudad 
Umversnana Rodrigo Facie. 2060 San Jose, Costa Rica 
Corresponding author; e-mail; 
christopher.clark ©'yale.edu 
2010). The sounds produced during these displays 
are either vocal (Clark 2006). or mechanically 
produced with their wings and/or tail (Clark and 
Feo 2008, 2010; Fco and Clark 2010). 
Male Scintillant and Volcano hummingbirds 
have emarginated inner rectrices (Fig. 1) that may 
function to produce sound during displays (Stiles 
1983), and male Scintillant have an emarginated 
PIO that may produce a wing trill (Stiles 1983) 
Our objectives in this paper are to: (I) describe the 
courtship displays and sounds of Volcano and 
Scintillant hummingbirds, and (2) provide natural 
history observations of their breeding biology. 
METHODS 
The Volcano Hummingbird presently has three 
recognized subspecies: S.f flammula, S.f. torridns. 
and S. f simoni (Stiles 1983). Most of our field 
work on this species was conducted on S.f torndus 
in open fields and pasture surrounded by oak 
(Querais spp.) forest near Estacion Biologica Cueri- 
cf (09'33’I 1.90" N, 83 40’ 18.37" W: 2,600 nt 
asl) and in Buenavista paramo habitat near km 89 
on the Pan-American highway, east of San Jose 
(09 33' 20.48" N. 83 45' 18.63" W; 3.450 m asl). in 
the Cerro de la Mueite, Talamanca Mountains. San 
Jose Province. Costa Rica. We made additional 
observations and one sound recording of S. J- 
flammula on the summit of V’olcan Irazu. Cartage 
Province (09 58* 34.78"N, 83 50' 57.63" W: 
3,340 m asl) on 22 October 2009. We made 
observations of S. scintilla and S. f. torndus at 
the Quetzal Education and Research Center 
(QERC) in San Gerardo de Dota (09 33' 1.55"N, 
218 
