White-tailed Goldenthroat (Polytmus guainumbi)

Identification & Behavior: ~10.5 cm (4.1 cm). The male White-tailed Goldenthroat is all green with glittering green underparts. The eye is framed by a white stripe above.  The female is greenish above and grayish-green below with the eye frame with a white stripe above and below. The tail is mostly greenish with large white tips. The bill is reddish and black (more saturated in the male) and gently decurved. The White-tailed Goldenthroat is similar to the Green-tailed Goldenthroat but is distinguished by having large white tips in the tail feathers.

Status: The White-tailed Goldenthroat is common but very local. It is known to occur in the open grasslands mixed with shrubs of Pampas de Heath in extreme southeast Peru and similar habitat types in Loreto (Jeberos area). It also occurs in Co, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Garganta-de-Oro de Cola Blanca.

Sub-species: White-tailed Goldenthroat (Polytmus guainumbi thaumantias), Linnaeus 1766.

Meaning of Name: Polytmus: Gr. Polutimos: very costly, valuable. guainumbi: Tupí Brazilian rays of the sun (bird), for a hummingbird.

See more of the Family Trochilidae