HUMMINGBIRDS   -   TROCHILIDAE   -   PART V

Sapphire-vented Puffleg Eriocnemis luciani luciani Yanacocha reserve, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Probably a male due to the deeply forked tail. (S4)

Golden-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis mosquera Yanacocha reserve, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Golden-breasted Pufflegs occur together with Sapphire-venteds at Yanacocha, though they are less common. (S4)

Buff-thighed Puffleg Haplophaedia assimilis assimilis Manu road between Pillahuata and San Pedro, Cusco department, Peru. I think this is a juvenile Buff-thighed Puffleg, mainly from size, jizz, and location. The leg puffs are not evident, and the rump was not visible. (D2)

Purple-bibbed Whitetip Urosticte benjamini Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. (S4)		Purple-bibbed Whitetip Urosticte benjamini Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. (S4)

Booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii melanantherus Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. (S5)

Booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii melanantherus Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. (S5)

Black-tailed Trainbearer Lesbia victoriae victoriae Bosque Protector Jerusalem Male. (D1)		Red-tailed Comet Sappho sparganura sapho Cuesta del Obispo, Salta province, Argentina. Male. Thought to be closely related to Black-tailed Trainbearer (right), and they do look fairly similar in these photos. They also both favor similar habitats. I've recently gotten a much better photo (below). (D3)

Red-tailed Comet Sappho sparganura sapho Cuesta del Obispo, Salta province, Argentina. Male. (S5)

Ecuadorian Hillstar Oreotrochilus chimborazo jamesonii Reserva Ecologica Antisana, Napo prov., Ecuador. Male. One of the highest ranging hummers in the world, regularly getting up to 4600 m (15000 ft), and sometimes even higher. (S3)		Ecuadorian Hillstar Oreotrochilus chimborazo jamesonii Reserva Ecologica Antisana, Napo prov., Ecuador. Female. (S3)

Wedge-tailed Hillstar Oreotrochilus adela Yavi, Jujuy province, Argentina. Male. What a great bird! One of my favorites from the Argentina tours I guided in late 2009. This species ranges mainly in Bolivia, and only barely gets into Argentina. (S5)

Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina quitensis Yanacocha, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. (S4)		Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina quitensis Yanacocha, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. (S4)

Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina districta El Dorado reserve, Santa Marta mountains, Colombia. Male. This is the subspecies endemic to the Santa Marta range, and it may better be treated as a separate species. Tail color is purple instead of copper, and the female (right) lacks spotting on the throat and breast. (S5)		Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina districta El Dorado reserve, Santa Marta mountains, Colombia. Female. (S5)

Viridian Metaltail Metallura williami primolinus Papallacta Pass, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female, with rusty speckling on the underparts. (S5f)

Neblina Metaltail Metallura odomae Cerro Toledo, Loja province, Ecuador. Female. This hummer has a very small world range in the mountains of far southern Ecuador and extreme northern Peru. It was only describe in 1980. (S5)

Blue-mantled Thornbill Chalcostigma stanleyi stanleyi Papallacta Pass, Napo province, Ecuador. Female. Some females show a lot of green on the throat, but this one shows almost none. (S5)		Bronze-tailed Thornbill Chalcostigma heteropogon Páramo del Tamá, Táchira state, Venezuela. Male. This species just barely makes it over the Colombian border into Venezuela. This photo was taken less than a kilometer from the border. (D3)

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill Chalcostigma herrani herrani A few kms west of Papallacta Pass, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. Fantastic, it's hard to get that crown and beard color with natural light. This is a beautiful high Andean hummer from central Colombia south through northern Peru. (S5)

Gray-bellied Comet Taphrolesbia griseiventris Rio Chonta, Cajamarca department, Peru. Male. A rare and endangered north Peruvian endemic. There were no reliable sites for it until it was found in the Rio Chonta near Cajamarca in 1999. (D2)

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