White-bellied Hummingbird (Elliotomyia chionogaster)

Identification & Behavior: ~10.5 cm (4.2 in). The White-bellied Hummingbird is green above and white below with green on the sides of the neck and less prominent on the breast and belly. The vent and undertail coverts are whitish. The base of the tail is also whitish and grades to dusky towards the tip of the tail. The bill is nearly straight with a black culmen and reddish mandible. It is similar to the Green-and-White Hummingbird but is distinguished by having a whitish base of the tail feathers and favoring semi-open habitats versus forested or thicker-foliaged habitats favored by the Green-and-White Hummingbird. These two hummingbirds overlap in parts of the relatively restricted range of the Green-and-White Hummingbird.

Status: The White-bellied Hummingbird is uncommon in forest edges and semi-open habitats on the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1200-3500 m. It also occurs in Br and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Colibrí de Vientre Blanco.

Sub-species: White-bellied Hummingbird (Elliotomyia chionogaster chionogaster), Tschudi, 1846. E slope in Peru (S Amazonas to Cuzco).
(Elliotomyia chionogaster hypoleuca), Gould, 1846. E slope in SE Peru (Puno), Bolivia and NW Argentina (S to La Rioja); possibly also EC Brazil (Mato Grosso).

Meaning of Name: Elliotomyia: chionogaster: Gr. khiōn,  khionos= snow and gastēr, gastros= belly.

See more of the Family Trochilidae