Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer - BirdForum Opus

Subspecies melanorrhoa
Photo by John Keep
La Selva, Costa Rica, April 1996

Alternative name: Red-footed Plumeleteer

Chalybura urochrysia

Identification

11cm (4.25") long and weighs 6g (female) or 7g (male)
Male: bronze-green upperparts, glittering green underparts, a dusky or white lower belly and a bronzed or purple-black tail depending on subspecies.
Female: bronze-green upperparts, grey underparts, including the lower belly, green speckling on the flanks and grey corners to the dusky bronze tail. Both sexes have pink or red feet.
Juveniles: resemble the adult, but have buff feather tips to the head, neck and rump feathers.

Variation

The Costa Rica subspecies, known as the Red-footed Plumeleteer (C. u. melanorrhoa) has a black, not bronze, tail. It was once thought to be a separate species, but in extreme western Panama it hybridizes with the Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer (C. u. isaurae). The two southern subspecies in addition differs by having the crissum area pale grey to white, considerably paler than the rest of the underside.

Distribution

Red-footed subspecies
Photo by HelenB
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica, February 2007

Central and South America
Central America: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
South America: Colombia, Ecuador

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

There are 3 supspecies:

• C. u. melanorrhoa:

• Caribbean slope of Nicaragua and Costa Rica

• C. u. isaurae:

• Caribbean slope of western Panama to north-western Colombia; eastern Panama

• C. u. urochrysia:

• Extreme south-eastern Panama to western Colombia and north-western Ecuador

An additional subspecies incognita is usually considered invalid^[2]

Subspecies isaurae
Photo by nick scarle
Cerro Azul, Panama, November 2012

Habitat

Forests, but has a preference for edges, gaps and second growth. It occurs in the Caribbean lowlands, typically up to an elevation of 700 m.

Behaviour

This hummingbird is aggressive, territorial, and usually dominant. The male will defend large clumps of Heliconia and other large flowers.

Vocalisation

Has a high metallic chip call, and the male’s song is a soft ter-pleeleeleelee ter-pleeleeleelee ter-pleeleeleelee ter-pleee.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Bronze-tailed_Plumeleteer

External Links

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