The colorful puffleg (''Eriocnemis mirabilis'') is an

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

species of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

in the "brilliants", tribe

Heliantheini Heliantheini is one of the two Tribe (biology), tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae of the hummingbird family (biology), family Trochilidae. The other tribe in the subfamily is Lesbiini. The informal name "brilliants" has been proposed f ...

in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is endemic to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved 27 May 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The colorful puffleg is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

. It is closely related to the emerald-bellied puffleg (''E. aline'') and they have variously been deemed

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

or a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. However, one author has suggested that because their plumage is so different from that of other ''Eriocnemis'' pufflegs that they should have their own genus.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 January 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved February 1, 2022

Description

The colorful puffleg is about long. It has a straight blackish bill. The male has dark shining green upperparts with a glittering green forehead. It has an iridescent green

gorget A gorget ( ; ) was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the English medieval clothing, medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon (headgear), chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather Collar (c ...

and upper breast, a glittering indigo blue belly, and glittering red and copper undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

. The tail is forked; it is dark bronzy green above and shining golden bronzy green below. The female has mostly white underparts with green dots on the sides of the throat and the breast and reddish bronze spots on the flanks and the sides of the belly. Both sex's leg puffs are white with cinnamon tips, though the female's are smaller than the male's.Heynen, I., P. F. D. Boesman, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Colorful Puffleg (''Eriocnemis mirabilis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.colpuf2.01 retrieved March 15, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The colorful puffleg is known only from a few locations on the west slope of the Western Andes in Colombia's

Cauca Department Cauca Department (, ) is a department of Southwestern Colombia. Located in the southwestern part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila De ...

. Most observations have been in undisturbed

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

but it also occurs at the forest edge and in clearings. The plant communities are characterized by Colombian oak ('' Quercus humboldtii'') and plants of genera '' Billia'', '' Clusia'', ''

Persea ''Persea'' is a genus of about 111 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The best-known member of the genus is the avocado, ''P. americana'', widely cultivated in subtropical regions for its large, edible fruit. O ...

'', '' Hyeronima'', and ''

Weinmannia ''Weinmannia'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Cunoniaceae. It contains 90 species, which range from Mexico through Central and South America including the Caribbean, and to the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius and Réunion) in the weste ...

''. The observations have been in the fairly narrow elevational range of .

Behavior

Movement

The colorful puffleg is sedentary.

Feeding

The colorful puffleg feeds mostly at levels between above the ground. It has been recorded feeding on nectar from ''

Tillandsia ''Tillandsia'' is a genus of around 650 species of evergreen, perennial plant, perennial flowering plants in the family (biology), family Bromeliaceae, native to the forests, mountains and deserts of the Neotropical realm, Neotropics, from northe ...

delicatula'', '' Clusia coremandra'' and other ''Clusia'' species, '' Anthopterus oliganthus'', ''

Cavendishia ''Cavendishia'' is a genus of about 100 species of woody perennial plants, many of which are epiphyte, epiphytic. The genus is native to tropical South America and Central America. Species References Germplasm Resources Information Netwo ...

bracteata'', ''

Psammisia ''Psammisia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. It contains the fruiting bushes commonly called ''joyapas'' and is distributed throughout the Neotropics. Description ''Psammisia'' are shrubs can be found on land or as epiph ...

columbiensis'', '' Besleria quadrangulata'', '' Elleanthus aurantiacus'', and '' Palicourea killipii''.

Breeding

Nothing is known about the colorful puffleg's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

Vocalization

As of early 2022, Cornell University's

Macaulay Library The Macaulay Library is the world's largest archive of animal media. It includes more than 71 million photographs, 2.6 million audio recordings, and over three hundred thousand videos covering 96 percent of the world's bird species. There are an ev ...

had no recordings of colorful puffleg vocalization, and

Xeno-canto xeno-canto is a citizen science project and repository in which volunteers record, upload and annotate recordings of bird calls and sounds of orthoptera and bats. Since it began in 2005, it has collected over 575,000 sound recordings from more th ...

had only three. What is thought to be its song is "a repeated single metallic short note 'tsit'".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

originally assessed the colorful puffleg as Threatened, then in 1994 as Vulnerable and in 2000 as Critically Endangered. The most recent assessment, in 2017, downlisted it to Endangered. Its population is estimated at 250 to 999 adult individuals and is believed to be decreasing. It occupies a few small sites with a total area of suitable habitat of only within its nominal range of about . In 2005, Swarovski Optik donated funds which allowed the

American Bird Conservancy American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a non-profit organization, non-profit membership organization with the mission of conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. ABC is the second BirdLife International partner in the United ...

and

Fundación ProAves Fundación ProAves is a nonprofit environmental organization in Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. Th ...

to create the Aves Mirabilis Swarovski Nature Reserve for this species. Another site is within

Munchique National Natural Park The Munchique National Natural Park () is a national park located in the Cauca Department in the Cordillera Occidental (Colombia), Cordillera Occidental range in the Andean Region of Colombia. There are 30 streams and rivers, and 40 waterfalls ...

. However, all of the sites are under pressure from logging and illegal coca growing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q882411 colorful puffleg Birds of the Colombian Andes Endemic birds of Colombia Endangered biota of South America colorful puffleg colorful puffleg Fauna of the northwestern Andean montane forests