Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorestes notata)

Identification & Behavior: ~8.5 cm (3.3 in). The male Blue-chinned Sapphire all green with blue chin and breast. It has a rounded blue tail. The female is green above and gray speckled with green below. The tail is dusky and square without pale or gray tips. The bill in both sexes is straight with a black culmen and red or reddish mandible. The male Blue-chinned Sapphire is similar to a male Blue-tailed Emerald but is distinguished by having a rounded tail, a larger size, and red or reddish mandible.

Status: The Blue-chinned Sapphire is uncommon restricted to Loreto and southern Ucayali in Amazonia generally ranging below 800 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Br.

Name in Spanish: Zafiro de Barbilla Azul.

Sub-species: Blue-chinned Sapphire (Chlorestes notata puruensis), Riley, 1913. NW Brazil (N of Amazon, E to mouths of R Trombetas and R Negro) to SE Colombia, E Ecuador and NE Peru (upper R Ucayali).
(Chlorestes notata obsoleta), J. T. Zimmer, 1950. NE Peru on lower R Ucayali near the mouth of R Napo, and W probably to the mouth of R Huallaga.

Meaning of Name: Chlorestes: Gr. khlōros= green and esthēs, esthētos= clothes, clothing. notata: L. albus white; notatus spotted, marked.

See more of the Family Trochilidae