Peacock Coquette

About the Peacock Coquette

The peacock coquette (Lophornis pavoninus) is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela. The peacock coquette and the festive coquette (Lophornis chalybeus) were for a time placed in genus Polemistria. (During that period and after, what is now the butterfly coquette (L. verreauxii) was treated as a subspecies of festive coquette.) The peacock coquette has two subspecies, the nominate L. p. pavoninus and L. p. duidae.

The peacock coquette is about 9.7 cm (3.8 in) long. The male of the nominate subspecies has a glittering golden green head with a black line through its middle. Its upperparts are shiny dark green with a white band across the rump. The tail is purplish bronzy and slightly forked. It has long shiny green cheek tufts with large blackish blue spots at the ends and a rufous patch with a white dot near the eye. Its underparts are grayish green. The female does not have the cheek tufts. Its upperparts are golden bronzy with a buffy white band across the rump. Its tail is grayish; the feathers have a wide purplish bronzy band near the end and... Wikipedia →