Family: Trochilidae

Polytmus guainumbi;
White-tailed Goldenthroat;
Beija-flor-de-bico-curvo.

Trochilus guainumbi PALLAS 1764
Trochilus thaumantias LINNAEUS 1766

The subspecies of central and eastern Brazil, and adjacent regions in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentinia, is thaumantias, but it is not clear whether our local form belongs to this taxon. The distribution maps in Schuchmann 1999 and Grantsau 1988 do not include Ceará.

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White-tailed Goldenthroat (Polytmus guainumbi)
14/03/2009; Serrote-do-Meio, Itapajé, Ceará, Brazil. 300 mm f2.8 lens.

Figure 1. This bird has some white around the eye, but it does not exhibit the white postocular and infraocular stripes that are typical for the species, according to the figures and descriptions in Mata et al. 2006 (p. 278) and Schuchmann 1999 (pl. 56 and p. 591). I found fig. 1 in table 28 of Grantsau 1988 similar to our bird, except for the color of the bill. But Grantsau's figure depicts the nominal subspecies, which has a different range (northern Brazil, Venezuela, etc.).

Thus, the identification is still a little uncertain.

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White-tailed Goldenthroat (Polytmus guainumbi)
14/03/2009; Serrote-do-Meio, Itapajé, Ceará, Brazil. 300 mm f2.8 lens.
mark for vim

Figure 2. This individual (which is the same as in fig. 1) has a maxilla with interesting colors: red at the base, then black, then red again, and finally a black tip.

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White-tailed Goldenthroat (Polytmus guainumbi)
14/03/2009; Serrote-do-Meio, Itapajé, Ceará, Brazil. 300 mm f2.8 lens.
mark for vim

Figure 3. It appears that the outermost rectrizes are bordered white. The photo does not show any white on the other rectrizes. Compare with Schuchmann 1999, pl. 56, nr. 130, and Grantsau 1988, Tafel 28, fig. 1-3,5,6.

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