Bird Guide

Blue-vented Hummingbird vs Steely-vented 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
Steely-vented Hummingbird (Saucerottia saucerottei)

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Saucerottia saucerottei

Tiny5 gShrubland

The steely-vented hummingbird is 8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in) long and weighs about 4.4 to 5.0 g (0.16 to 0.18 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a black bill with a pinkish or reddish base to the mandible. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have golden-green upperparts with blue-black uppertail coverts. Their tail is also blue-black. Their underparts are dark glittering golden-green with greenish to steel blue undertail coverts. Adult females have some white on their throat feathers and grayish-brown undertail coverts. Voice: The steely-vented hummingbird's song has not been described in words. Its calls have been described as "a high, sharp tsit or dry chit, sometimes uttered in sputtering series."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Luis Perez from Medellin, Colombia · CC BY 2.0

Learn this pair in the BeakBrain App

Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.

Play today's Daily Bird

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