Oasis Hummingbird (Rhodopis vesper)

Identification & Behavior: ~12.5 cm (5 in). The Oasis Hummingbird is green above with a distinctive rusty lower rump and uppertail coverts.  The underparts are white with a grayish side of the breast and belly. The male has a purple gorget, which is missing in the female. The bill is long, black, and decurved. The tail in the males is deeply forked. The tail in the female is notched with white tips to most feathers. It favors coastal scrub and edges of coastal woodlands. The male is unmistakable. The female is similar to a female Purple-collared Woodstar but is distinguished by larger size, longer and more decurved bill, the rusty lower rump and uppertail coverts.

Status: The Oasis Hummingbird is uncommon in a wide elevational range between nearly sea level to 3800 m on the west slope of the Andes. It also occurs in Ch.

Name in Spanish: Colibrí de Oasis.

Sub-species: Oasis Hummingbird (Rhodopis vesper koepckeae), Berlioz, 1974. NW Peru (Cerro Illescas, in SW Piura).
(Rhodopis vesper vesper), Lesson, 1829. Most of W Peru (S from Lambayeque) and extreme N Chile (Tarapacá).

Meaning of Name: Rhodopis:  I honor of Rodopis, a famous Thracian courtesan or hetaera. vesper: L. vesper, vesperis=  evening. French name “Oiseau-mouche Vesper,” given to the Oasis Hummingbird by Lesson 1829, because it was believed to fly only during the evening.

See more of the Family Trochilidae