Buff-tailed Coronet
Common name: Buff-tailed Coronet
Scientific name: Boissonneaua flavescens
Clades: Heliantheini - Brilliants
The Buff-tailed coronet is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 7.3 to 8.8 g (0.26 to 0.31 oz).
A Buff-tailed Coronet has a cinnamon underwing in flight, and its tail is notably buffy except for the bronzy central feathers. There are three types of habitats that are suitable for buff-tailed coronets: humid and wet montane forests, shrubby forest borders, and dwarf forests. Usually congregating with other hummingbirds at trees in the canopy interior, they are rather defensive around the middle- and upper-level flowers in the forest. During feeding, they hold onto flowers while holding their wings up in a V shape.
2 subspecies:
below is the Buff-tailed Coronet (Boissonneaua flavescens flavescens)
Photographed in Bogotá, Boyacá, and Antioquia, Colombia
These individuals belong to the nominate subspecies flavescens, which is widespread along the Central and Eastern Andes of Colombia. It is typically found in humid montane forest, cloud forest edge, and high elevation woodland, often at elevations above 2,000 meters.
