Purple-collared Woodstar (Myrtis fanny)

Identification & Behavior: ~9.5 cm (4 in). The male Purple-collared Woodstar is green above. The underparts are pale with gray-greenish or buffy on the sides of the breast and belly. The large blue gorget is bordered below by a purple iridescent band.  The female is also green above with mostly pale and buffy underparts. The bill is relatively long and decurved. The tail in the male is all gray. The tail in the female is blackish with large white tips and greenish central pair of feathers.  The female is very similar to the female Peruvian Sheartail but is distinguished by larger size, a longer and decurved bill, and the central pair of tail feathers of similar length as the rest of the other tail feathers. Also, see Short-tailed Woodstar.

Status: The Purple-collared Woodstar is common in dry scrub and similar habitats on the west slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 700-3200 m. It performs seasonal altitudinal movements descending to the coast including parks in the city. It also occurs in Ec.

Name in Spanish: Estrellita de Collar Púrpura.

Sub-species: Purple-collared Woodstar (Myrtis fanny fanny), Lesson, 1838. W & SE Ecuador and W Peru (Piura S to Arequipa).
(Myrtis fanny megalura), J. T. Zimmer, 1953. N Peru from S Cajamarca (Cajabamba) through SE La Libertad to extreme NW Huánuco.

Meaning of Name: Myrtis: In honor of Myrtis (fl. 500 BC) Boeotian poetess, muse and teacher to Corinna and Pindar. fanny: In honor of Françoise ‘Fanny’ Victoire Rosalia Joséphine Gouÿe de Longuemare née Marsy (fl. 1823) wife of French naturalist Agathe-François Gouÿe de Longuemare.
See more of the Family Trochilidae