Crimson Topaz / Topaaskolibrie

Crimson Topaz (Topaza pella)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
Kabalebo © Armida Madngisa nature guide	© Foek Chin Joe	© Foek Chin Joe
© Armida Madngisa nature guide	© Armida Madngisa nature guide	© Armida Madngisa nature guide
© Tomas Willems	© Ton Plug	© Katia Debusschere-Delvoye
© Armida Madngisa nature guide	© Armida Madngisa nature guide	with nesting material end July © Jean-Pierre Veira
French Guiana © Michel Giraud-Audine

Crimson Topaz: The color of the male of this hummingbird strongly depends on the lighting conditions, so chances are that you will not see its splendor when you meet it. When you are lucky it comes hovering in front of you and you see it in shining bright colors. I once was lucky and had a male in front of our floating boat, hovering for some time in the sun and looking at us, on the Coesewijne river with the scent of vanilla from the flowering orchids alongside. Already thirty years ago, but unforgettable.
You can see that the nest is on the outside covered with cob web. It is a bit less than half the length of the female (expected some 15 cm for the female), rather large for a hummingbird, but then this is one of the largest of Suriname. The recorded sound is of an agitated Crimson Topaz.
Photos, first of a male Crimson Topaz hummingbird and then a female on the nest, both made by Foek Chin Joe in Suriname. The third photo was made by Katia Debusschere-Delvoye, of a male with beautiful long black tailfeathers, that landed in her garden at Leiding in the coastal area in December 2006. Maybe the bird was exhausted, it was along way from its normal place in the forest. Then three from Armida Madngisa made at Kabalebo resort in March 2104 (the third at a flowering Inga tree) and one from French Guiana by Michel Giraud-Audine near Wayabo also from March that year.
Fred Pansa made two videos of a nest of the Crimson Topaz on October 10, 2023. The first video shows the two young, on the other the female can be seen.
Sean Dilrosun made the third video of a to and fro flying, and calling, male

Birdsounds (click on them to listen)
Sound recording of a Crimson Topaz © Otte Ottema, bird guide

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Crimson Topaz © ;	Video recording of a Crimson Topaz © ;	Video recording of a Crimson Topaz © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Topaza pella
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae, 35 in Suriname
Dutch:	Topaaskolibrie
English:	Crimson Topaz
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Topacio Candela Colicanelo
Portugese (Brazil):	Beija-flor-brilho-de fogo
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Colibri topaze

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 128 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 1 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 128 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 1 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).