Short-tailed woodstar

Short-tailed woodstar
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Myrmia
Mulsant, 1876
Species: M. micrura
Binomial name
Myrmia micrura
(Gould, 1854)

The short-tailed woodstar (Myrmia micrura) is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland where it is the only hummingbird of the woodstar variety. It usually feeds close to the ground and often is attracted to flowers planted around houses.

At 7 cm (2.7 in), it ties with the gorgeted woodstar as the smallest bird found in South America, though the little woodstar is scarcely longer.[2] This bird is pale shining green with a small whitish patch on the sides of the lower back extending down to the lower flanks. The gorget is glittering violet, bordered at the sides by white malar streaks and below by a white pectoral collar extending onto the sides of the neck. The underparts are all whitish. The tail is very short and black. The female and male plumages are similar but the female has no white on the lower back and is uniform pale buffy below.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Myrmia micrura". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. Schulenberg, T.S.; Stotz, D.F.; Lane, D.F.; O'Neill, J.P.; Parker, T.A.; Egg, A.B. (2010). Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 250. ISBN 9781400834495. Retrieved 13 April 2015.


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