Oct 14

Bird of the day

Purple-throated sunangel

Heliangelus viola

The purple-throated sunangel (Heliangelus viola) is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.

The purple-throated sunangel is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 5.1 to 6.6 g (0.18 to 0.23 oz). It has a short, straight, blackish bill. Both sexes have shining green upperparts and green bellies. Their central tail feathers are shining green and the others blackish. Adult males have a glittering blue-green frontlet just above the bill and a deep violet iridescent gorget with a blue-green pectoral bar below it. Adult females lack the blue-green frontlet and iridescent gorget. Their throat is tawny to off-white with bronzy green speckles. Juveniles are similar to the adult female. The differences among the "Clements" subspecies are treated by the other taxonomic systems as being within the range of variation of the nominate.

Aliases

Heliangelus viola

Range

Range map of Black metaltail