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HUMMINGBIRDS -
TROCHILIDAE - PART V
Pufflegs
to Gray-breasted Comet

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Sapphire-vented Puffleg
Eriocnemis
luciani luciani
Yanacocha reserve, Pichincha province, Ecuador.
Probably a male due to the deeply forked tail.
(S4)
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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) |
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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) |
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Purple-bibbed Whitetip
Urosticte
benjamini
Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha
province, Ecuador.
Male. (S4) |
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Purple-bibbed Whitetip
Urosticte
benjamini
Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha
province, Ecuador.
Female. (S4) |
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Booted Racket-tail
Ocreatus
underwoodii melanantherus
Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha
province, Ecuador.
Male. (S5) |
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Booted Racket-tail
Ocreatus
underwoodii melanantherus
Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha
province, Ecuador.
Female. (S5) |
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Black-tailed Trainbearer
Lesbia
victoriae victoriae
Bosque Protector Jerusalem
Male. (D1) |
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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) |
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Red-tailed
Comet
Sappho
sparganura sapho
Cuesta del Obispo, Salta province, Argentina.
Male. (S5) |

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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)
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Ecuadorian Hillstar
Oreotrochilus
chimborazo jamesonii
Reserva Ecologica Antisana, Napo
prov., Ecuador.
Female. (S3)
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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) |
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Tyrian Metaltail
Metallura
tyrianthina quitensis
Yanacocha, Pichincha province, Ecuador.
Male. (S4) |
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Tyrian Metaltail
Metallura
tyrianthina quitensis
Yanacocha, Pichincha province, Ecuador.
Female. (S4) |
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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) |
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Tyrian Metaltail
Metallura
tyrianthina districta
El Dorado reserve, Santa Marta mountains, Colombia.
Female. (S5) |
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Viridian
Metaltail
Metallura
williami primolinus
Papallacta Pass, Pichincha province, Ecuador.
Female, with rusty speckling on the
underparts. (S5f) |
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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) |
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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) |
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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) |
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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) |
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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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