Pale-tailed Barbthroat

Appearance

The pale-tailed barbthroat is 10 to 12.2 cm long. Males weigh 4 to 7 g and females 4 to 6.5 g. The adult male has bronze-green upperparts and breast, a dark ear patch and throat with a reddish patch below the later, and a pale malar stripe. The tail is dark with various shades and extent of color on the outer feathers. The belly is gray with ochre tints. 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 has less contrast among the throat, breast, and belly. Young birds resemble the adult but have ochraceous feather edges. The subspecies differ somewhat in the tail and belly coloration, and there are intergrades between "cervinicauda" and "rufigastra" and between "rufigastra" and "leucurus".

Distribution

The subspecies of pale-tailed barbthroat are distributed thus:

⤷  "T. l. cervinicauda", eastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador into northeastern Peru and east into western Amazonian Brazil
⤷  "T. l. rufigastra", eastern Peru south of the Marañón River to northern Bolivia
⤷  "T. l. leucurus", southern and eastern Venezuela through Guyana, Suriname, and Amazonian Brazil to northeastern Bolivia
⤷  "T. l. medianus", northeastern Amazonian Brazil south of the Amazon

Status

The IUCN has assessed the pale-tailed barbthroat as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, and though its population has not been quantified it is believed to be stable. It is considered local and uncommon throughout its range and occurs in several protected areas.

Habitat

The pale-tailed barbthroat inhabits open and semi-open spaces within humid lowland and higher tropical forest, and other landscapes such as gallery forest, "várzea" and "igapó" swamp forests, and plantations. It is found from sea level to 850 m in Venezuela, in Peru mainly to 1,200 m but as high as 1,800 m, and in Ecuador mainly to 1,100 m and as high as 1,600 m.

Reproduction

The pale-tailed barbthroat's nesting season varies widely across its range. Its nest is a cone-shaped cup of plant and other fibers and cobweb, covered with lichens, and attached to the underside tip of a long drooping leaf such as a palm frond. The female alone incubates the white eggs.

Food

Like other hermit hummingbirds, the pale-tailed barbthroat is a "trap-line" feeder, visiting a circuit of flowering plants. It feeds on nectar at "Heliconia" and several other tubular flowers and also on small arthropods.