Racket-tipped Thorntail (Discosura longicaudus) | Photos and ID

LCLeast ConcernNectar

ForestCup nestTiny · 3 g

Racket-tipped Thorntail (Discosura longicaudus), photo 1 — Photo: Christoph Moning · CC BY 4.0

ID tip

Male racket-tipped thorntails are 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) long and females about 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in). They weigh about 3 to 3.7 grams (0.11 to 0.13 oz). Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill. Males have an iridescent green crown and mostly bronzy green upperparts with a buffy white band across their rump. Their tail is long and mostly purplish; the outer pair of feathers are much longer and end in a wide blackish "racket". Their throat is iridescent emerald green, their lower breast golden-coppery, and their belly whitish. Voice: As of August 2024 the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had no recordings of racket-tipped thorntail vocalization. Xeno-canto had only six.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Racket-tipped Thorntail

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 10 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Racket-tipped Thorntail

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 5 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Brazil Suriname Guyana Venezuela French Guiana

Recorded as a rare visitor in France.

About the Racket-tipped Thorntail

The racket-tipped thorntail, formerly called racket-tailed coquette, is a species of hummingbird in subfamily lesbiinae of family Trochilidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Letitia's ThorntailDiscosura letitiaeGraves described the specimens of Letitia's thorntail, but noted that the perceived colors of hummingbirds depend on the lighting and the observer's angle of view.

Black-bellied ThorntailDiscosura langsdorffiThe black-bellied thorntail weighs about 3.2 g (0.11 oz).

Wire-crested ThorntailDiscosura popelairiiThe wire-crested thorntail is one of the smallest birds on Earth, with a mature weight of about 2.5 g (0.088 oz).

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