Stripe-tailed Hummingbird
Eupherusa eximia
Distinctive, medium-sized hummingbird found in foothills and highlands. Favors humid evergreen forests and shade-coffee plantations. Mainly feeds at low to middle levels, darting quickly among flowers and flashing open its tail to reveal white stripes. Both sexes have a bright rusty panel in the wings, which appears as a blur when hovering. Male is brilliant green overall. Female is pale gray below and has less white in the tail.
Identification
The stripe-tailed hummingbird is 9 to 10.5 cm (3.5 to 4.1 in) long and weighs an average of 4–4.5 g (0.14–0.16 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a straight black bill. The nominate male has bright metallic grass green upperparts that is more bronzy on the uppertail coverts. Cinnamon rufous secondaries show as a patch on the folded wing. Its three inner pairs of tail feathers are dark bronze green; the outer two pairs have black outer webs and white inner ones with black tips, giving the species its English name. Its underparts are bright metallic grass green with white undertail coverts. The female also has grass green upperparts; its underparts are brownish gray with metallic green spots on the sides. Its tail is similar to the male's with the addition of dusky to black tips on the inner feathers.<p>Males of subspecies E. e. nelsoni are larger than the nominate. Their underparts are more yellowish green, and the black tips of the outer tail feathers are less sharply defined. Males of E. e. egregia are also larger than the nominate. The black on the outer web of the two outermost pairs of tail feathers is limited to the tip. The female's outermost pair of tail feathers are usually entirely white.
Taxonomy
The stripe-tailed hummingbird has three subspecies, the nominate E. e. eximia, E. e. nelsoni, and E. e. egregia. Some authors have also treated the white-tailed hummingbird (E. poliocerca) and Oaxaca hummingbird (E. cyanophrys) as additional subspecies.
- Scientific name
- Eupherusa eximia
- Authority
- (Delattre, 1843)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Eupherusa
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Behavior
Migration pattern: Vertical migration.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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