HUMMINGBIRDS   -   TROCHILIDAE   -   PART VI

Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingi smaragdinus Abra Patricia, San Martín deparment, Peru. Male. The common and widespread sylph of the subtropical Andes. It is replaced by the next species on the west of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador. (S6)

Violet-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus coelestis coelestis Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. It mostly replaces the Long-tailed Sylph (A. kingi) in the Chocó region. A common visitor to feeders in the Tandayapa-Mindo area. (S4)

Violet-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus coelestis coelestis Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Another male, but with a much shorter tail, either a younger bird or one that had recently moulted its tail feathers. (S4)		Violet-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus coelestis coelestis Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. Females are much less common at the Tandayapa feeders than males. (S4)

Venezuelan Sylph Aglaiocercus berlepschi Cerro Negro, Monagas state, Venezuela. Female. This species is endemic to the isolated northeastern mountain ranges of Venezuela. While the male is very similar to the widespread Long-tailed Sylph (A. kingi), the female is unique in the genus in having all white underparts. (D3)

Hyacinth Visorbearer Augastes scutatus scutatus Serra de Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. Endemic to mountains of eastern Minas Gerais. (S5)		Hyacinth Visorbearer Augastes scutatus scutatus Serra de Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Female on a nest, 12 June 2006. (D3)

Hooded Visorbearer Augastes lumachella Chapada Diamantina, Bahia state, Brazil. Female. A nice comparison of nests between these two sister species. Those leaves unfortunately block most of the nest, but I was on the edge of a cliff and it was impossible to set the tripod up anywhere else. Photographed 18 Sep 2007. (D3)

Hooded Visorbearer Augastes lumachella Chapada Diamantina, Bahia state, Brazil. Male. You usually don't see the brilliant head iridescence unless he looks right at you. (D3)		Hooded Visorbearer Augastes lumachella Chapada Diamantina, Bahia state, Brazil. Male. A different angle showing the tail color. (D3)

Black-eared Fairy Heliothryx auritus auriculatus Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Male, showing green on his throat. This seems to be quite a rare species in the Atlantic Forest. I've only seen it a couple of times in that region. (D4)

Horned Sungem Heliactin bilophus Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. A neat little hummer that's almost endemic Brazil, but it also gets a little but into Bolivia, and there is an odd record from Suriname. It's found in savanna habitats like cerrado and caatinga. (S5)		Horned Sungem Heliactin bilophus Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Female. (S5)

Long-billed Starthroat Heliomaster longirostris albicrissa Buenaventura reserve, El Oro province, Ecuador. Female, because of the dull crown. (S5)

Stripe-breasted Starthroat Heliomaster squamosus Serra da Canastra NP, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. Endemic to Brazil, though it does have a fairly large range. (D2)

Stripe-breasted Starthroat Heliomaster squamosus Canudos, Bahia state, Brazil. Female. (S6)

Oasis Hummingbird Rhodopis vesper vesper Azapa Valley, Region I, Chile. Male. (S5)

Peruvian Sheartail Thaumastura cora Azapa Valley, Region I, Chile. Male. A recent arrival to extreme northern Chile. The spread of this species is thought to be one of the major causes of the drastic decline of the Chilean Woodstar Eulidia yarrellii, which used to be common. (S5)		Peruvian Sheartail Thaumastura cora Azapa Valley, Region I, Chile. Female. (S5)

Purple-collared Woodstar Myrtis fanny fanny Chaparrí reserve, Lambayeque department, Peru. Female. Bathing in a stream near the lodge. (S6)

Amethyst Woodstar Calliphlox amethystina La Escalera (Sierra de Lema), Bolívar state, Venezuela. Male. Interestingly, this species is monotypic even though it ranges through most of tropical South America. (D3)

Purple-throated Woodstar Calliphlox mitchellii Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. (S6)

Purple-throated Woodstar Calliphlox mitchellii Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. (P1f)

Bumblebee Hummingbird Atthis heloisa heloisa 20 km SW of Valle Nacional, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Male. This Mexican endemic has one of the most distinctive songs of all the hummingbird. Click here for a recording of the same bird that's in this photo. (D5)

White-bellied Woodstar Chaetocercus mulsant Dusky Starfrontlet reserve, Antiqouia dept., Colombia. Male. A widespread hummer of the northern Andes, south to Bolivia. (S5)		White-bellied Woodstar Chaetocercus mulsant Abra Patricia, San Martín department, Peru. Female. (S6)

Little Woodstar Chaetocercus bombus Milpe, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. A rare bird in NW Ecuador. Note the washed out tawny underparts and the black subterminal band. (D3)		Little Woodstar Chaetocercus bombus Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. An especially rare bird at the Tandayapa hummer feeders. (S5)

Santa Marta Woodstar Chaetocercus astreans El Dorado Lodge, Santa Marta Mountains, Magdalena department, Colombia. Female. There is usually at least one female coming in to the feedesrs at the lodge, though I have never seen a male visit the feeders. Endemic to the Santa Marta range. (S6)

Santa Marta Woodstar Chaetocercus astreans El Dorado Lodge, Santa Marta Mountains, Magdalena department, Colombia. Female. A different individual in flight. (S6)

Esmeraldas Woodstar Chaetocercus berlepschi Rio Ayampe, Manabí province, Ecuador. Male. One of only a handful of species endemic to mainland Ecuador. It is seriously endangered and still very poorly known. Easy to see for a few months of the year along the Ayampe river, but most ot all of them seem to leave from about May to November. (D3)

Rufous-shafted Woodstar Chaetocercus jourdanii andinus Above La Azulita, Mérida state, Venezuela. Male. (D3)

Volcano Hummingbird Selasphorus flammula torridus Cerro de la Muerte, San José province, Costa Rica. Male. Even through this species has a rather small range in the high mountains in Costa Rica and western Panama, it has three distinct subspecies, differing mainly in the color of male's gorget. This subspecies, from the Talamanca range, is sometimes caled the "Heliotrope-throated Hummingbird" due to the lavender gorget color. That's not a name that roll's off the tongue smoothly... Other races have purple or red gorgets. (S6)		Volcano Hummingbird Selasphorus flammula torridus Cerro de la Muerte, San José province, Costa Rica. Female. (S6)

Scintillant Hummingbird Selasphorus scintilla Savegre Lodge, San José province, Costa Rica. Male. Endemic to the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. (S5)