The scaled metaltail (''Metallura aeneocauda'') is a species of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

in the "coquettes", tribe

Lesbiini Lesbiini is one of the two tribes that make up the subfamily Lesbiinae in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. The other tribe is Heliantheini (brilliants). The informal name "coquettes" has been proposed for this group as the largest genus, ''L ...

of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and Peru.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: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved 27 May 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The scaled metaltail has two subspecies, the nominate ''M. a. aeneocauda'' and ''M. a. malagae''. The latter was for a time treated as a separate species.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, 2022Heindl, M. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Scaled Metaltail (''Metallura aeneocauda''), 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.scamet1.01 retrieved March 6, 2022

Description

The scaled metaltail is long and weighs . It has a medium length, straight, black bill. The adult male of the nominate subspecies has bottle green upperparts. Its slightly forked tail is iridescent sky blue with bronzy green tones on its upper side and glittering green on its underside. Its

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the thro ...

is iridescent bright green. The rest of its underparts are green with a scaly appearance from tan feather margins. The adult female is similar to the male. Its gorget is smaller and its undersides are more mottled. Juveniles are similar to the female. Subspecies ''M. a. malagae'' is similar to the nominate but the upper side of its tail is bronzy red and the underside red. It also has a longer bill.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of scaled metaltail is found on the eastern slope of the Andes from the

Cordillera Vilcabamba The Vilcabamba mountain range is located in the region of Cusco, Peru, in the provinces of Anta, La Convención and Urubamba. It extends between 13°10' and 13°27'S. and 72°30' and 73°15'W for about 85 km.

of southeastern Peru south into northwestern Bolivia's

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

Department. ''M. a. malagae'' is found in the vicinity of

Inkachaka Inkachaka or Inka Chaka ( Quechua ''Inka'' Inca, ''chaka'' bridge,Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary) "Inca bridge", hispanicized spellings ''Incachaca, Inca Chaca'') i ...

in central Bolivia's Cochabamba Department. The species inhabits glades and edges of

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

and elfin forest and also rocky slopes with herbs and shrubs. In elevation it ranges between and is most common above .

Behavior

Movement

The scaled metaltail is believed to be sedentary but some dispersal into ''

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

'' and lower montane forest is thought possible.

Feeding

The scaled metaltail feeds on nectar from a variety of flowering plants and shrubs, often by clinging to the flower. Males defend feeding territories. In addition to nectar, it feeds extensively on insects.

Breeding

The scaled metaltail's breeding

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

and nest have not been documented. Its breeding season appears to include May and June.

Vocalization

The scaled metaltail's chase call is "a descending series of 3–6 squeaky notes, followed by a repeated, buzzy, jumbled phrase, 'trt-tsee-seee-seee-sew..trr-tsee-tsew..trr-tsee-tsew..'."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the scaled metaltail as being of Least Concern. Its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. It is "not at risk at present, due to its fairly wide distribution and its rather unspecialized ecology... utmay be vulnerable in places because fregular grassland burning". It occurs in a protected area in each country.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1266212 scaled metaltail Birds of the Peruvian Andes Birds of the Bolivian Andes scaled metaltail Taxonomy articles created by Polbot