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Narrow-tailed Emerald | Chlorostilbon stenurus
Smalstaartsmaragdkolibrie | Esmeralda colifina | Esmeralda-de-cauda-estreita
The Narrow-tailed Emerald is an emerald of the Andes and coastal mountains of Venezuela that occurs in the guide area only in eastern Colombia. The name refers to the male's very narrow, pointed outer tail feathers. Little is known about the species; sound recordings are scarce.
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Voice
Hardly documented; probably dry, short calls as in other emeralds.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
7–9 cm; the male is larger than the female. The bill is short and black, slightly decurved in the female. The male is grass green above and glittering green below; the forked tail is dark green, with very small, stiletto-shaped outer feathers. The female is dark green above, with a dull, bronzy crown, and pale grey to whitish below; the central tail feathers are bluish green, the outer ones grey to dark blue with broad white tips.
Confusion species
Short-tailed Emerald Chlorostilbon poortmani has a shorter tail without narrow outer feathers; in the male it is bronze-green. Western Emerald Chlorostilbon melanorhynchus has a blue-black tail with normally shaped outer feathers. Blue-tailed Emerald Chlorostilbon mellisugus lives lower, in open lowlands, and has a blue-black tail.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, scrub and secondary forest, between about 1000 and 3000 m. It forages low, up to about 4 m above the ground, at small flowers, and catches small insects. Locally it makes seasonal altitudinal movements. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia only in the east, on the eastern side of the Eastern Andes into Meta, adjoining its range in Venezuela; scarce and rarely reported. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the Andes and coastal mountains of Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In montane forest and scrub on the eastern slope of the Eastern Andes, watch for emeralds with a forked, green tail and check the shape of the outer tail feathers.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species also lives in secondary forest and scrub; little is known about its numbers in Colombia.
Scientific name
Chlorostilbon stenurus | (Cabanis & Heine, 1860)
Cabanis & Heine described the species in 1860 as Panychlora stenura; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chlorostilbon was introduced in 1853 by Gould. The genus name combines Greek khlōros, 'green', with stilbōn, 'glittering'. The species name combines Greek stenos, 'narrow', with oura, 'tail'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mérida, Venezuela.