Pale-tailed Barbthroat (Threnetes leucurus)

Identification & Behavior: ~11.5 cm (4.5 in). The Pale-tailed Barbthroat is mostly dark green with a buffy or rufous broad band across the base of the neck. It also has a broad pale malar streak. The tail is white ( buff in color in the subspecies “cervinicauda”, with dusky terminal edges. It favors the understory of forest interior, forest edges, and old second growth. Buff-tailed birds may resemble a Rufous-breasted Hermit but are distinguished by the lack of rufous on the breast and belly, rufous band across the base of the neck, and pale malar streak.

Status: The Pale-tailed Barbthroat is uncommon to rare in Amazonia. It is known to range at elevations of up to 1800 m along the eastern Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Ermitaño de Cola Blanca.

Sub-species: Pale-tailed Barbthroat (Threnetes leucurus cervinicauda) Gould, 1855. E Colombia S to NE Peru and adjacent W Amazonian Brazil.
(Threnetes leucurus rufigastra), Cory 1915. CE Peru (S of R Marañón) to N Bolivia (Beni).

Meaning of Name: Threnetes: Gr. Mourner. leucurus: Gr. Leukos= white, oura, ourus= tail, tailed.

See more of the Family Trochilidae