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The black-throated brilliant is a species of hummingbird in tribe Heliantheini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It lives in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
ID tip
The nominate subspecies H. s. schreibersii of black-throated brilliant is 11.5 to 13 cm (4.5 to 5.1 in) long. Males weigh about 9.9 g (0.35 oz) and females 7.1 to 8.5 g (0.25 to 0.30 oz). Both have an almost straight dark bill about 2.8 cm (1.1 in) long and a small white spot behind the eye. The male has shining green upperparts with a glittering green forehead. Its underparts are black with a small glittering purple patch and narrow glittering green band on the lower throat. The steel blue tail is very long and deeply forked. Voice: What is thought to be the song of the nominate black-throated brilliant is "a repeated, drawn-out, descending reeling trill of c. 4–5 seconds." It also makes single "chup" notes. The presumed song of H. s. whitelyana is a similar trill lasting about 3 seconds, but there are too few recordings to be sure if it is truly different from the nominate's.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
When to see it
Peak activity in January · a resident species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Gould's JewelfrontHeliodoxa aurescensH.aurescens ranges in size from 11 to 12 cm, with an average weight of about 6.2 g.
Pink-throated BrilliantHeliodoxa gularisThe pink-throated brilliant is about 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long.
Learn the Black-throated Brilliant for real
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