Bronze-tailed Comet
Polyonymus caroli
Large, long-tailed hummingbird found on scrubby slopes in more arid parts of the Peruvian Andes. Adult male is glistening green with an iridescent rosy throat and bronzy tips to the outer tail feathers. Females and immatures are grayish underneath with green scaling and a much smaller throat patch bordered by a pale mustache. Also note the white spot behind the eye. The tail appears forked when spread.
Identification
The bronze-tailed comet is 11 to 13 cm (4.3 to 5.1 in) long and weighs about 4.8 g (0.17 oz). Adult males have dark bronzy green upperparts. Their tail is somewhat long and deeply forked and its central feathers are bronzy green. The upper surface of the other tail feathers are steel blue or purplish becoming bronze at the ends; their undersides are entirely steel blue. They have a white spot behind the eye. The gorget is large and rosy violet to rosy purple, and the rest of the underparts are bronze green. Adult females are similar to the males but duller. Their gorget is smaller and more orange and the tail shorter and less deeply forked. The belly is grayish with green speckles.
Taxonomy
The bronze-tailed comet is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies. However, at one time the grey-bellied comet (Taphrolesbia griseiventris) was also placed in Polyonymus.
- Scientific name
- Polyonymus caroli
- Authority
- (Bourcier, 1847)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Polyonymus
Range and habitat
The bronze-tailed comet is found on the Pacific slope and dry valleys of the Peruvian Andes from the Department of Cajamarca south into the Department of Arequipa. It inhabits arid to semi-arid montane scrublands and small montane woods. In elevation it ranges from 2,100 to 3,400 m (6,900 to 11,000 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The bronze-tailed comet is sedentary.<p>The bronze-tailed comet's diet is not known in detail, though it is known to be mostly insectivorous and also eats small arthropods. It forages at all heights but mostly near the ground.<p>The bronze-tailed comet's breeding season appears to include at least November and December but little else is known about the species' breeding phenology. Its nest has not been described.<p>The bronze-tailed comet's apparent song is "a short trill that rises in pitch and then descends". While foraging it makes ""a dry, rapid chatter: tcht or tchtcht.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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