Wire-crested Thorntail

Discosura popelairii (Du Bus de Gisignies, 1846)

Wire-crested Thorntail, Discosura popelairii, is a hummingbird of humid Andean foothill forest in eastern Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, with breeding range extending into north-west Bolivia. It is a small species with a thin, hair-like crest in the male, which also shows a glittering green crown. Both sexes have coppery green upperparts and a white band across the rump. The male has a deeply forked steely blue tail, while the female lacks the crest and has a shorter, only slightly forked tail. It is found from about 500 to 1,500 m.

Order

Apodiformes

Family

Trochilidae — Hummingbirds

Breeding range

South America: ec Colombia to se Peru and nw Bolivia