Green-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia nuna)

Identification & Behavior: ~17.5 cm (7 in)-male,  11 cm (4.3 in)-female. The Green-tailed Trainbearer has emerald green upperparts. It has an iridescent green gorget that has a somewhat “flat or horizontal” bottom outline. The underparts are green overall. The uppertail coverts and nearly half the uppertail are mostly emerald green. The vent area is pale or greenish. The bill is black, relatively short, and nearly straight. The female is a dull version of the male pale and speckled underparts and a shorter tail. The very similar Black-tailed Trainbearer has uppertail coverts and tail feathers dusky-black with a reduced coppery green tip. The vent area is pale or buffy. The bill is black, relatively short, and gently decurved. Also, the gorget’s bottom in the Black-tailed Trainbearer is somewhat “V” shaped.

Status: The Green-tailed Trainbearer is common to fairly common in montane scrub on the east and west slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1700 – 3800 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 and northern Puno. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Colibrí de Cola Larga Verde.

Sub-species: Green-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia nuna pallidiventris), Simon, 1902. Andes of N & C Peru (E Piura to W Huánuco).
(Lesbia nuna huallagae), Weller and Schuchmann, 2004. Andes of C Peru (Huallaga Valley in C Huánuco).
(Lesbia nuna nuna), Lesson, 1832. Andes of S Peru (Junín to Cuzco).

Meaning of Name: Lesbia: Gr. Lesbias= woman of Lesbos. nuna: Nouna-Koali, a graceful Indian virgin in Jean F. Denis’s novel (1829) “Ismaël Ben Kaïzar ou la découverture du Nouveau Monde”.

See more of the Family Trochilidae