Blue-tufted Starthroat vs Plain-capped Starthroat

Blue-tufted Starthroat

Heliomaster furcifer

Tiny5 gForest

The blue-tufted starthroat is 12.6 to 13 cm (5.0 to 5.1 in) long and weighs 5 to 6.5 g (0.18 to 0.23 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a long, decurved, black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. Both have a forked tail but the female's is less deeply indented than the male's. Males in breeding plumage have an emerald green crown, nape, and upper back; the rest of the upperparts are shining coppery green. The throat is glittering violet. The underparts and elongated feathers on the sides of the neck are iridescent ultramarine. Voice: The blue-tufted starthroat does not appear to have a conventional song. It does make "a descending, pure-whistled 'tseep'" call.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Lindolfo Souto, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Lindolfo Souto · cc-by

Plain-capped Starthroat

Heliomaster constantii

Tiny7 gWoodland

The plain-capped starthroat is 11 to 13 cm (4.3 to 5.1 in) long. Males weigh about 7.4 g (0.26 oz) and females about 7.2 g (0.25 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a long, almost straight, black bill and a white streak behind the eye. The sexes have essentially the same plumage. The nominate subspecies has metallic bronze green upperparts with a wide white streak on the rump; the crown is less metallic than the rest. Much of the face is dusky, with a wide white "moustache". The chin is sooty to blackish and the gorget ranges from several shades of bright metallic red to purplish red. Voice: The plain-capped starthroat's song is "a series of sharp chips interspersed with varied chips, chip chip chip pi-chip chip chip ...., or chi chi chi chi whit-it chi ...". Its calls include "a high-pitched, fairly soft and melodious slurred tseep or cheek", "a sharp, fairly loud peek", and during chases "a high pitched, piercing twitter".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Daniel Pineda Vera · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Blue-tufted Starthroat and Plain-capped Starthroat.