How do you identify a Beautiful Sheartail?

The beautiful sheartail is 7.7 to 9 cm (3.0 to 3.5 in) long and weighs about 2.2 to 3 g (0.078 to 0.11 oz). Full identification notes are on this page.

How big is a Beautiful Sheartail?

The Beautiful Sheartail is a tiny sized bird weighing about 3 g.

Where can you see a Beautiful Sheartail?

The Beautiful Sheartail is endemic to Mexico, which is the only country where it occurs.

What birds look similar to a Beautiful Sheartail?

The Beautiful Sheartail is most easily confused with the Lucifer Sheartail.

Is the Beautiful Sheartail endangered?

The Beautiful Sheartail is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Beautiful Sheartail

Calothorax pulcher

Hummingbirds · Apodiformes · Rare

The Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher) is a rare hummingbird found only in Mexico, weighing about 3 g. The beautiful sheartail or beautiful hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds".

Least ConcernRareEndemicEats nectarshrublandcup nest3 g

Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher), photo 1 — Photo: Dan Riley · http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher), photo 2 — Photo: Nigel Voaden · CC BY 4.0

Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher), photo 3 — Photo: Nigel Voaden · CC BY 4.0

Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher), photo 4 — Photo: Louis Victor Bevalet (1808-) · Public domain

Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher), photo 5 — Photo: (c) Nigel Voaden, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Beautiful Sheartail (Calothorax pulcher), photo 6 — Photo: (c) Dan Riley, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

About the Beautiful Sheartail

The beautiful sheartail or beautiful hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is endemic to Mexico.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

How to identify it

The beautiful sheartail is 7.7 to 9 cm (3.0 to 3.5 in) long and weighs about 2.2 to 3 g (0.078 to 0.11 oz). Both sexes have a long, slightly decurved, black bill. Males have metallic bronze green upperparts and a white stripe behind the eye. Their gorget is metallic magenta purple that is more violet and blue to the rear; the rear feathers are elongated. The breast is grayish white, the flanks metallic bronze green, and the undertail coverts white. The tail is long and forked. The central two pairs of feathers are metallic bronze green and the other three pairs bronzy black. Voice: During the flight section of the courtship display, the male beautiful sheartail repeats "a very high, thin to slightly squeaky t-swiik t-swiik ... or w-siiu w-siiu ...". The species' call is "high, twittering chips".

Where it lives

Mexico

When to see it

Best months: January, February, March, April, November, December, with peak activity in March. It is a variable species across most of its range.

Easily confused with

Lucifer SheartailCalothorax lucifer

Quick questions

How do you identify a Beautiful Sheartail?: The beautiful sheartail is 7.7 to 9 cm (3.0 to 3.5 in) long and weighs about 2.2 to 3 g (0.078 to 0.11 oz). Full identification notes are on this page.
How big is a Beautiful Sheartail?: The Beautiful Sheartail is a tiny sized bird weighing about 3 g.
Where can you see a Beautiful Sheartail?: The Beautiful Sheartail is endemic to Mexico, which is the only country where it occurs.
What birds look similar to a Beautiful Sheartail?: The Beautiful Sheartail is most easily confused with the Lucifer Sheartail.
Is the Beautiful Sheartail endangered?: The Beautiful Sheartail is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Learn the Beautiful Sheartail for real

BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.

Play BeakBrain

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