Band-tailed Barbthroat

About the Band-tailed Barbthroat

The band-tailed barbthroat (Threnetes ruckeri) is a medium-sized hummingbird that is found from southeastern Guatemala and Belize to western Ecuador and western Venezuela. The band-tailed barbthroat has the three subspecies listed. A fourth proposed subspecies, T. r. darienensis of the Panama-Colombia border area, shares the characteristics of all three recognized subspecies. The band-tailed barbthroat and the other two members of its genus pale-tailed barbthroat (T. lecurus) and sooty barbthroat (T. niger) form a superspecies.

The band-tailed barbthroat is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long. Males weigh 5.5 to 7 g (0.19 to 0.25 oz) and females 5 to 7 g (0.18 to 0.25 oz).The adult male of the nominate subspecies has bronze-green upperparts, a dark ear patch and chin, and a dusky malar stripe. The tail is dark with white bases and tips to the feathers that create a black band near the end. The throat is ochraceous and the underparts are otherwise gray with some green feathers. It has a nearly straight bill. As with other hermit hummingbirds, the sexes are similar; the female's bill is somewhat more decurved than the male's and the plumage... Wikipedia →