A Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia Tzacatl) caught in a spider web of Eriophora Fuliginea (Araneae: Araneidae)

Abstract

In this note, we report on a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird caught in a spider web of Eriophora fuliginea. The observation was made in a tropical dry forest fragment in the department of Córdoba, northern Colombia. The Hummingbird was found with its head down and given that after five minutes of observation it was unable to free itself, we removed it from the net and released it. Although E. fuliginea is a nocturnal orb weaver, the fact that this species does not dismantle the spider web at daybreak, makes it a possible source of mortality for Hummingbirds and other small birds. This finding represents the first published record of a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird trapped in a spider web in Colombia. Considering that Hummingbirds fly through sites where large orb weavers locate their webs, Hummingbirds caught in webs could be more frequent than reported in the literature.