Coppery-naped Puffleg

About the Coppery-naped Puffleg

The sapphire-vented puffleg (Eriocnemis luciani) is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and possibly Venezuela. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy recognize the following five subspecies of sapphire-vented puffleg.

E. l. meridae Schuchmann, Weller, & Heynen (2001) E. l. luciani Bourcier (1847) E. l. baptistae Schuchmann, Weller, & Heynen (2001) E. l. catharina Salvin (1897) E. l. sapphiropygia Taczanowski (1874) BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World accepts several 21st century studies and treats the last two as members a separate species, the coppery-naped puffleg (E. sapphiropygia). The South American Classification Committee (SACC) of the American Ornithological Society declined to recognize that split.

Subspecies E. l. meridae is known only from the holotype that was collected in 1898, and it might be extinct. The sapphire-vented puffleg is 11.4 to 14 cm (4.5 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 5.4 to 6.4 g (0.19 to 0.23 oz). It has a straight black bill. The nominate subspecies' male has... Wikipedia →