Glowing Puffleg
Eriocnemis vestita
Medium-sized hummingbird, male mostly green with blue throat and glittering emerald and blue belly. Blue undertail coverts. Females are paler buffy below with a speckled appearance. Both sexes have conspicuous large white puffs at base of legs, much larger than Buff-tailed Coronet’s white puffs. Found in the temperate zone of the Andes, where they most often occur at the forest edge.
Identification
The glowing puffleg is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long. Males weigh 3.3 to 7.2 g (0.12 to 0.25 oz) and females 3.6 to 5.3 g (0.13 to 0.19 oz). It has a straight blackish bill. The nominate subspecies' male has shining dark green upperparts with a golden green rump and uppertail coverts. It has a glittering purple throat patch thinly surrounded by golden green. The rest of its throat and its upper breast are shining blackish green, its belly glittering golden green, and its undertail coverts iridescent purplish blue. Its leg puffs are white. The tail is forked and dark steel blue. The female has shining golden green upperparts. Its throat patch is a few bluish purple discs on a buffy background. The rest of the throat and the breast are buff and the belly grayish white, all with golden green discs. The juvenile is similar to the female.<p>Subspecies E. v. paramillo is like the nominate but without the golden green fringe to the purple throat. Males of E. v. smaragdinipectus have the largest purple throat patch of all. E. v. arcosae is similar to smaragdinipectus but its rump and uppertail coverts are yellowish green that extends up into the lower back; males also have shorter bills and a grayer belly than the nominate.
Taxonomy
The glowing puffleg has four recognized subspecies:<p>Several other subspecies have been proposed but all are now (2022) considered to be hybrids or color morphs of these four.
- Scientific name
- Eriocnemis vestita
- Authority
- (Lesson, RP, 1839)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Eriocnemis
Range and habitat
The subspecies of glowing puffleg are found thus: <p>The glowing puffleg inhabits a variety of fairly open landscapes. The edges of cloudforest and elfin forest predominate. It also occurs on brushy slopes, overgrown pastures, and páramo and occasionally in denser subtropical forest. In elevation it ranges between 2,300 and 4,200 m (7,500 and 13,800 ft) but mostly occurs between 2,800 and 3,500 m (9,200 and 11,500 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Columba palumbus
Distinctive, large bulky gray pigeon with a pale neck patch (lacking on juvenile in late summer–autumn). Neck patch is large and white throughout majority of range, but birds in Azores, Madeira, and much of western Asia have smaller, tan-colored patches. Bold white wing band striking in flight; tail broadly tipped black. Inhabits wooded and semiopen habitats, including towns and gardens. Forms flocks, especially in winter. Often rather unaware, and frequently crashes noisily and clumsily out of hedges and bushes. Display flight consists of a flap-flap-flap climb followed by a descending glide. Gives a low, throaty series of coos: “hrrruu-hoo-who-who.”
Fiery-throated Fruiteater
Pipreola chlorolepidota
Small, scarce fruiteater found in cloud forest in the eastern foothills of the Andes. Both sexes are mostly green. Male has a ruby-red throat and a yellowish belly. Female has a yellow chin and yellow scaling on the belly. Female is similar to female to Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater but smaller and with a black (not orange) bill. Feeds on berries in middle to upper levels in the forest, and often found in pairs.
African Sacred Ibis
Threskiornis aethiopicus
Striking white ibis with a naked black head and neck and black legs and feet. White wings framed by black wingtips and trailing edges. Can be encountered in almost any open habitat from wild wetlands to farmland and rubbish dumps. Originally restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, but now established in Taiwan and Europe, with feral colonies in France, Italy, and Spain.
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