Purple-throated Mountain Gem ?? (1 Viewer)

Victor Soares · Mar 14, 2019

Hi all, while trawling through my holiday photos I found another Hummingbird which I saw and managed to take some VERY bad photos of

... I understand that the photos are really not great so if this does not allow for an ID, I understand ... but let's try anyway

I think this is a PURPLE-THROATED MOUNTAIN GEM although the obvious feature is obscured - hence I have made some notes on the photos - A being a female and B being (I assume) a young male?

Photos were taken in Boquete, Panama on the Pipeline Trail at an elevation of approx 4000ft

Any comments will be greatly appreciated

Victor Soares · Mar 14, 2019

... any ideas anyone?

Victor Soares · Mar 15, 2019

Motmot said:
..

arcadillor said:
..

THE_FERN said:
..

You guys have helped me a lot with these IDs ... could you have a look at these please

THE_FERN · Mar 15, 2019

Dunno if you can rule out white-throated mountain-gem? Both recorded from the area. Don't think we can see the important id features.

Victor Soares · Mar 15, 2019

THE_FERN said:
Dunno if you can rule out white-throated mountain-gem? Both recorded from the area. Don't think we can see the important id features.

Oh, I see what you mean now ... my book did not illustrate the female of the WTMG so I did not realize how very similar they are

The only other possible photo that may be of use is completely out-of-focus on the male but does show a pale throat (so maybe white?)... not sure what the purple would like like in the same conditions so may still not be conclusive.

Here it is anyway ....

njlarsen · Mar 16, 2019

I think Mountain-gem is OK. I cannot go further.

Ebird shows white-throated to be much more common. The old Ridgely FG mentions that there are occasional Purple-throated males that belong to the White-throated species. I am not sure if that is still believed to be true.

From https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/wtmgem1/appearance

In western Chiriquí, in Panama, female White-throated (subspecies castaneoventris ) is somewhat paler than female Purple-throated. Also, in female Purple-throated the upperparts are more bluish green and the central rectrices are darker bronze green; the tail looks paler in White-throated compared to Purple-throated, as the white tipping on the outer rectrices is more extensive and the bluish black subterminal band is narrower in White-throated.

Niels

Purple-throated Mountain Gem ?? (1 Viewer)

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Victor Soares

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