Green Mango (Anthracothorax viridis)

Green Mango

Description

The green mango (Anthracothorax viridis) is a large species of hummingbird endemic to the main island of Puerto Rico. It is usually found in the mountainous regions of the island, often in coffee and other kind of plantations. They usually feed on the nectar found in Heliconia flowers. Their feather coloration is mainly solid dark green with a dark blue and black tail, but solid purple-black birds are common. Females are less glossy, and they have very small white tips at the tail ends.

Distribution And Habitat

The Green Mango is endemic to Puerto Rico and particularly common in the central and western mountains (Raffaele and others 1998). This species inhabits mountain forests, coffee plantations (Raffaele and others 1998), and forest edges in mountains and foothills (Oberle 2018). The atlas fieldwork yielded a total of 141 records within 99 hexagons or 21 percent of the 479 total hexagons (see map). Of the 99 hexagons where this species was found, breeding met the atlas definition of confirmed in 5 percent (5) of the hexagons, probable in 12 percent (12), and possible in 81 percent (80), while the species was observed in 2 percent (2) of the hexagons but without evidence of breeding (see map). Green Mango distribution. The map shows the highest breeding code by hexagon and overlaying the ecological life zones in Puerto Rico. Note: percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

Breeding Habits

The Green Mango builds a cup-shaped nest coated with lichens, and breeding has been recorded in October, December, February, April, and May in previously published reports (Raffaele and others 1998). Atlas results indicate that the Green Mango breeding season extends throughout the year, but it is 83Green Mango/Zumbador Verdemost active from March to June (see chart). Atlas results show that one of the hexagons where breeding was confirmed for the Green Mango occurs in the metropolitan area of San Juan, suggesting that some urban forests may provide suitable habitat for this forest-dwelling bird. Results show that the Green Mango mostly breeds within the subtropical moist and subtropical wet forest life zones (49 and 48 percent of the hexagons, respectively) (see table and map).

Conservation

The population trend of the Green Mango is unknown; however, it is listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN (BirdLife International 2016), and locally this species is not listed in any threatened category of PRDNER or USFWS. In Puerto Rico, the Green Mango has a protected habitat in land of 18 percent or 422 km2 of the total area covered by the hexagons where evidence of breeding was found for this species (2320 km2).