Bird Guide

Blue-vented Hummingbird vs Copper-rumped Hummingbird

Blue-vented Hummingbird (Saucerottia hoffmanni)

Blue-vented Hummingbird

Saucerottia hoffmanni

5 gShrubland

The blue-vented hummingbird is 8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in) long and weighs an average of 4.45 g (0.16 oz). Both sexes have a straight bill with a blackish maxilla and a coral-red mandible with a dark tip. Adult males have golden-green upperparts with coppery to purplish rump and uppertail coverts. Their underparts are dark glittering golden-green with greenish to steel blue undertail coverts. Their tail is pale steel blue and slightly forked. Adult females are similar but with a duller green lower breast and belly. Voice: The blue-vented hummingbird's song is "a repeated buzzy, squeaky phrase tzi-tzee-tzup, sometimes followed by a few lower-pitched notes, tzi-tzee-tzup ... wut-chur-up." It also makes calls described as "a high, sharp tsit or dry chit, sometimes uttered in sputtering series."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Åsa Berndtsson · CC BY 2.0
Copper-rumped Hummingbird (Saucerottia tobaci)

Copper-rumped Hummingbird

Saucerottia tobaci

Tiny5 gForest

The copper-rumped hummingbird is 9 to 11 cm (3.5 to 4.3 in) long. Males weigh 4.6 to 4.7 g (0.16 to 0.17 oz) and females 3.5 to 4.2 g (0.12 to 0.15 oz). The nominate subspecies S. t. tobaci is the largest. Both sexes of all subspecies have a straight, medium length, blackish bill with a pinkish base to the mandible. Males of S. t. tobaci have bronze-green upperparts with purple-red uppertail coverts. They have dark golden-green underparts with reddish brown undertail coverts. Their tail is purplish black. Voice: The copper-rumped hummingbird's song is "a repeated phrase of three buzzy or squeaky, well-spaced notes 'tee-dee-dew' or 'tee-dzee-djit'." It also makes "high-pitched descending rattles" when foraging.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Copper-rumped Hummingbird
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz @rosaelena_naturaleza · Song · San Antonio De Los Altos (near Parroquia Macarao), Los Salias, Miranda, Venezuela · CC0
Photo: cheesy42 · CC BY 2.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Blue-vented Hummingbird and Copper-rumped Hummingbird.