Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

Sparkling Violet-ear (Colibri coruscans) - HBW 5, p. 557

French: Colibri anaïs German: Großer Veilchenohrkolibri Spanish: Colibrí Rutilante
Other common names: Colombian/Gould’s/Chequered Violet-ear

Taxonomy: Trochilus (Petasophora) coruscans Gould, 1846, South America.
Proposed race rostratus (mountains of upper Orinoco Valley) doubtfully distinct from germanus; only differences appear to be longer bill and tail. Form “buckleyi”, known only by type from Bolivia, appears to refer to an aberrant plumage of present species, perhaps the poorly known melanistic form; a reported second specimen from Ecuador may refer to some different form. Two subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

germanus (Salvin & Godman, 1884) - S Venezuela, E Guyana and N Brazil.
coruscans (Gould, 1846) - NW Venezuela and Colombia through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia and NW Argentina; possibly also N Chile.

Least Concern

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calls given while perched Locality Quito, Pichincha Province, Ecuador (ssp coruscans)
Dusan Brinkhuizen 7 December 2009 3 years ago 4.5