Black-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia victoriae)

Identification & Behavior: ~17 cm (6.7 in)– male, 13 cm (5.1 in)– female. The Black-tailed Trainbearer has green upperparts. It has an iridescent green gorget that has a wide “V” shaped bottom outline. The underparts are green overall. The tail in the male is very long. The uppertail coverts and tail feathers have a reduced coppery green tip and are mostly dusky-black in color. The vent area is pale or buffy. The bill is black, relatively short, and gently decurved. The female is a dull version of the male with grayish-green speckled underparts and a shorter tail. The very similar Green-tailed Trainbearer has broad emerald green uppertail coverts, nearly half of the tail looks emerald green, has a shorter and more straight bill, and a flatter lower outline to the gorget.

Status: The Black-tailed Trainbearer is common to fairly common in montane scrub on the east and west slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 2700 – 4100 m. On the west slope, it ranges from Piura to Lima. On the East slope, it ranges on both sides of the Marañon Valley south to Cusco. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Colibrí de Cola Larga Negra.

Sub-species: Black-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia victoriae juliae), E. Hartert, 1899. Andes of S Ecuador (S Loja) to C Peru (S to Huánuco and N Lima).
(Lesbia victoriae berlepschi), Hellmayr, 1915. Andes of SE Peru (Junín to Cuzco).

Meaning of Name: Lesbia: Gr. Lesbias=  woman of Lesbos. victoriae: In honor of Marie Anne Victoire Mulsant née Jacquetton (1777-1854) mother of French ornithologist Martial Mulsant.

See more of the Family Trochilidae