Greenish Puffleg Haplophaedia aureliae Scientific name definitions

Greenish Pufflegs have a copper-green head, small whitish leg puffs, a white spot behind the eye, and have a blend of green, white, and gray scaling below. The leg puffs of this species are not as conspicuous as they are on other pufflegs. Greenish Pufflegs live in the interior and around the edges of humid wet forests. Most of their time is spent in the understory, but they ascend to the canopy when Inga trees are flowering. They keep feeding territories at flowers, but are not nearly as territorial as those pufflegs found in the Eriocnemis genus. Greenish Pufflegs most often forage by themselves at a small cluster of flowers in the forest interior. They do not typically hold on to flowers or hold their feathers in a V shape like Eriocnemis pufflegs do.

9–11·6 cm; 4–6·5 g. Bill straight, blackish (c. 1·8–2 cm). Male green above with a coppery hue, especially on head and neck; underparts are duller green, feathers fringed greyish-white; large, conspicuous leg puffs are white on the outside, buffy on the inside; tail slightly forked, blue-black. Sexes similar but female appears more heavily scaled below, and has leg puffs all white. Juvenile resembles female. Race <em>caucensis</em> has upper­parts more grass-green, with more coppery tinge to head and rump, and more extensive white below, forming white patch on central belly; floccus recalls previous race, but male is paler green below, with a greener (less bronzy) crown and brighter cinnamon uppertail-coverts, while female has foreneck and breast prominently edged and tipped white; galindoi is most like floccus, but is darker green both above and below, with darker uppertail-coverts, and female has less obvious white edges and tips below; russata differs in having a longer bill, even more and brighter coppery areas on upperparts, and almost completely lacking white parts below, the feathers being fringed brownish instead; cutucuensis has very heavy greyish-white underparts scaling.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Also recorded (subspecies uncertain) in N Peru (1 Weller, A.-A. (2005). A hummingbird species new to Peru: range extension for the Greenish Puffleg Haplophaedia aureliae. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club 125(2): 136–140. Close ).

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SUBSPECIES

Haplophaedia aureliae floccus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

extreme eastern Panama and adjacent northwestern Colombia (Cerro Malí, Cerro Tacarcuna)

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SUBSPECIES

Haplophaedia aureliae galindoi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

extreme eastern Panama (Cerro Pirre)

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SUBSPECIES

Haplophaedia aureliae caucensis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Mts. of se Panama to Western and Central Andes of Colombia

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SUBSPECIES

Haplophaedia aureliae aureliae Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E Andes, and probably also E slope of C Andes, in Colombia.

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SUBSPECIES

Haplophaedia aureliae russata Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E slope of Andes of Ecuador (S at least to W Pastaza).

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SUBSPECIES

Haplophaedia aureliae cutucuensis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E slope in S Ecuador (Cutucú Range and Cordillera del Cóndor).

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Records from Colombia suggest some seasonal altitudinal movements to lower temperate zone.

Territorial and pugnacious. Feeding territories are established around flowers with short corollas. The species is usually found in the lower storey of the forest interior, occurring in canopy only when Inga trees are in flower. Gleans insects from leaves.

Males gather in loose groups to sing, endlessly repeating a double-noted “tur seet” or “tskut”, being given from a high perch at a rate of c. 1 note/second throughout much of day (2 Hilty, S. L., and W. L. Brown (1986). A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ).

Dec–Mar, but nesting has also been recorded May–Aug, and in Sept. The cup-shaped nest consists mainly of moss held together with cobwebs and lined with fine plant material. It is usually built beneath a fern or Heliconia leaf to provide protection from rain. Usually placed 0·5–2 m above ground. Clutch size two eggs; incubation by female. First breeding in second year. No further information.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Under revised taxonomy, wherein present species and H. assimilis are treated separately, range of H. aureliae only recently extended to NE Peru, based on two specimens (from San Martín and Amazonas) collected in 1970s and now assigned to recently named race cutucuensis (3 Weller, A.-A. (2005). A hummingbird species new to Peru: range extension for the Greenish Puffleg Haplophaedia aureliae. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 125(2): 136–140. Close ). Generally fairly common, and locally even abundant, e.g. on Cerro Pirre, Panama, race floccus considered one of the commonest bird species, but generally uncommon in N Peru. In SW Colombia, above Cali, recorded densities of at least 3–5 pairs/km². Regularly recorded between Tena and Coca, NE Ecuador, but race russata of E Ecuador is generally common only on isolated ridges, separated from the main Andean range (4 Bonaccorso, E., D. Arzuza, G. Buitrón-Jurado, A. L. Charpentier, M. Juiña, P. Piedrahía, and J. F. Freile (2011). Range extensions and other noteworthy bird records from the Ecuadorian Andes. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 131(4): 261–265. Close ).