The
buff-tailed coronet (
Boissonneaua flavescens) is a species of
hummingbird in the "brilliants", members of the tribe
Heliantheini in the subfamily
Lesbiinae. Found in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, the buff-tailed coronet is 11 to 12 centimetres (4.3 to 4.7 inches) long and weighs 7.3 to 8.8 grams (0.26 to 0.31 ounces). Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. Males of the nominate subspecies,
B. f. flavescens, are mostly shining green, with a buff belly spotted with green. The buff-tailed coronet is highly territorial, though it may share feeding at a flowering tree with other hummingbirds. It typically forages in the mid-story but also feeds in the canopy. Breeding behavior has been recorded between November and March, and it has a song consisting of "a continuous series of single high-pitched 'tsit' notes". This buff-tailed coronet of the subspecies
B. f. flavescens was photographed in the Reserva Ecologica Rio Blanco, near
Manizales, Colombia.
Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
_Caldas.jpg)
