Blue-throated sapphire

Blue-throated sapphire
At Rincón de la Vieja National Park, Costa Rica
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Genus:	Hylocharis
Species:	H. eliciae
Binomial name
Hylocharis eliciae Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846
Range of H. eliciae

The blue-throated sapphire (Hylocharis eliciae), also known as the blue-throated goldentail, is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.

This medium-sized hummingbird measures 9 cm (3.5 in) and weighs 3.6 g (0.13 oz). The crown and upperparts are green, shading to the metallic golden-green tail. The wings are dusky, while the sides and belly are green. The throat is metallic blue-violet. The bill is straight and coral red with a black tip. The female is paler overall, with more black in the bill and more grey in the throat.^[2]

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Hylocharis eliciae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. Arizmendi, M.C.; Rodríguez-Flores, C.; Soberanes-González, C.; Schulenberg, Thomas S. (2013). Schulenberg, T.S., ed. "Blue-throated Goldentail (Hylocharis eliciae)". neotropical.birds.cornell.edu. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Neotropical Birds Online. Retrieved 7 August 2014.

External links

• BirdLife species factsheet for Hylocharis eliciae
• "Hylocharis eliciae". Avibase.
  
• "Blue-throated goldentail media". Internet Bird Collection.
• Blue-throated goldentail photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Audio recordings of Blue-throated Sapphire on Xeno-canto.