Order
Caprimulgiformes
Family
Trochilidae
Genus
Metallura
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Neblina Metaltail Metallura odomae

Thomas S. Schulenberg
Version: 1.0 — Published May 8, 2015

Appearance

Distinguishing Characteristics

Metaltails (Metallura) are small, short billed hummingbirds of the high Andes with tails that are only slightly forked. Metaltails are named for the metallic sheen to the tail, which is glittering green, purplish, or coppery, depending upon the species. Neblina Metaltail is a Metallura with glittering bronzy green body plumage, and a tail that is glittering green. The sexes are dimorphic: the male has a reddish purple or rosy red gorget, while females overall are duller, and the feathers of the underparts are tipped or scaled with whitish or buff.

Similar Species

Neblina Metaltail is most similar to Fire-throated Metaltail (Metallura eupogon), but these species are highly allopatric: Fire-throated Metaltail is restricted to central Peru, hundreds of kilometers from the range of Neblina. The gorget of male Fire-throated also is a more orangey, less rosy, red, and the body plumage of Fire-throated overall is a more bronzy green. Viridian Metaltail (Metallura williami) is a more glittering green overall, and the female is greener below than female Neblina (less heavily scaled with buff). In the area of overlap with Neblina, male Viridian has a black (not rosy red) gorget.

Detailed Description

The following description is based on Graves (1980) and on Fjeldså and Krabbe (1990):

Adult male: Crown, nape, back, wing coverts, and rump iridescent dark green. Upper surface of rectrices dark olive; under surface of rectrices shining golden green, the outermost pair tipped with pale gray (across both inner and outer webs). Small coverts at carpal region of wing cinnamon buff. Remiges dark purplish brown. Sides of the head, neck, and of the throat bronzy olive to rich coppery bronze. Chin and gorget reddish purple or rosy red. Underparts olive bronze with buffy white subterminal bars, giving a spotted aspect to the lower breast and belly. Feathers of lower belly edged terminally with tan. Undertail coverts bronzy green, broadly edged with buffy cinnamon.

Adult female: Similar to male, but duller. Generally tan below, extensively spotted with bronzy. Lacks a full gorget, but the throat is extensively spotted with rosy red.

Molts

Undescribed.

Bare Parts

Iris: dark brownish black

Bill: black

Toes: black

Bare parts color data from Graves (1980) and Parker et al. (1985).

Measurements

Total length: 9 cm (Fjeldså and Krabbe 1990, Ridgely and Greenfield 2001a), 10-10.5 cm (Schulenberg et al. 2010)

Linear measurements (from Graves 1980):

wing length (chord): male, mean 59.7 mm (range 59.2-60.7 mm, n = 3); female, mean 56.3 mm (range 54.6-57.7 mm, n = 4)

tail length: male, mean 40.5 mm (range 40.2-40.9 mm, n = 3); female, mean 40.2 mm (range 38.4-41.0 mm, n = 4)

bill length (exposed culmen): male, mean 14.1 mm (range 13.8-14.4 mm, n = 3); female, mean 13.8 mm (range 13.5-14.3 mm, n = 4)

Mass (from Parker et al. 1985): male, mean 5.2 g (range 5.0-5.4 g, n = 3); female, mean 4.8 g (range 4.7-5.1 g, n = 4)

Recommended Citation

Schulenberg, T. S. (2015). Neblina Metaltail (Metallura odomae), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.nebmet1.01