Bird Guide

Golden-tailed Sapphire vs Shining-green Hummingbird

Golden-tailed Sapphire (Chrysuronia oenone)

Golden-tailed Sapphire

Chrysuronia oenone

Tiny5 gForest

The golden-tailed sapphire is 9.5 to 10 cm (3.7 to 3.9 in) long. Males weigh 4.7 to 6.3 g (0.17 to 0.22 oz) and females 4.3 to 5.3 g (0.15 to 0.19 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a slightly curved bill with a black maxilla and a black-tipped red mandible. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a violet-blue head and throat. Their back is bright green that transitions through bronze-green to bright coppery coverts and a copper-bronze tail. Their breast is glittering green, their belly bronze-green, and underneath their tail, their coverts are bronze with whitish edges. Voice: The golden-tailed sapphire's song is variable, described as "a repeated rhythmic phrase, often starting with a burry note, followed by several very squeaky or scratchy notes, and ending with repeated chips." It also makes calls described as "a drawn-out metallic trill and shorter chipping notes."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Golden-tailed Sapphire
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call, trilled call · Napo: 3 km NW Guagua Sumaco, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Don Henise · CC BY 2.0
Shining-green Hummingbird (Chrysuronia goudoti)

Shining-green Hummingbird

Chrysuronia goudoti

Tiny4 gShrubland

The shining-green hummingbird is 9 to 9.5 cm (3.5 to 3.7 in) long. Males weigh about 4.1 g (0.14 oz) and females about 3.7 g (0.13 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a straightish bill with a black maxilla and a mostly pink mandible. Adult males of the nominate subspecies C. g. goudoti have green upperparts. Their underparts are mostly shining bluish green with a whitish belly and green undertail coverts with white edges. Their tail is forked; its central feathers are bronze-black and the outer ones blue-black. Adult females' upperparts are like the male's. Voice: What is thought to be the shining-green hummingbird's song is "a short, thin ‘lisping’ rattle initiated with an upslurred note...rapidly repeated 10–12 times, 'pee-rrrr..pee-rrrr..peer-rrrr..'." Its calls include "chips and a high-pitched descending trill."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Golden-tailed Sapphire and Shining-green Hummingbird.