The Tyrian metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina) is a species of hummingbird in the subfamily Lesbiinae, the brilliants and coquettes. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. == Taxonomy and systematics == The Tyrian metaltail has these seven subspecies: M. t. districta Bangs (1899) M. t. chloropogon Cabanis & Heine (1860) M. t. oreopola Todd (1913) M. t. tyrianthina Loddiges (1832) M. t. quitensis Gould (1861) M. t. septentrionalis Hartert, E. (1899) M. t. smaragdinicollis d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye (1838) In the early twentieth century some authors treated M. t. chloropogon and M. t. smaragdinicollis as full species but that treatment has not been widely accepted. == Description == The Tyrian metaltail is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 2.7 to 5.1 g (0.10 to 0.18 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a short, straight, black bill. The male of the nominate subspecies has bottle green upperparts and gray underparts with pale fringes on the feathers. It has an emerald green throat and a slightly forked glistening bronze tail. The female is also bottle green above. Its throat and upper breast are ochre-orange with olive green spots and the lower breast and belly are…
Sangay National Park
Cebadas, Ecuador
+320 birds+10 mammals
High in Ecuador's Andean spine, where the Western Cordillera rises to touch perpetual snow, a landscape of volcanic drama and ecological intensity unfolds across Sangay National…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKRío Negro-Sopladora National Park
Chontal, Ecuador
+84 birds
Where the eastern cordillera of Ecuador descends toward the Amazon basin, the Río Negro-Sopladora National Park sprawls across 615 square kilometers of montane forest and riverine…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPodocarpus National Park
Zamora, Ecuador
+496 birds+6 mammals
Where the Andes descend toward the Amazon basin, Podocarpus National Park sprawls across nearly 2,800 square kilometres of the most biodiverse terrain in Ecuador's southern highlands.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKYacuri National Park
Las Juntas, Ecuador
+166 birds+1 mammals
Where the eastern slopes of the Andes descend into Ecuador's southern frontier, Yacuri National Park unfolds across nearly 1,300 square kilometers of montane cloud forest and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSumaco Napo-Galeras National Park
Loreto, Ecuador
+563 birds+4 mammals
Where Ecuador's Amazon transitions into cloud forest, a massive shield volcano rises from the emerald lowlands of Orellana Province, anchoring one of the continent's most biodiverse…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKAntisana National Park
Quijos, Ecuador
+432 birds+21 mammals
Where the eastern Andean slopes descend into the Amazon basin, Antisana National Park sprawls across roughly 2,500 square kilometers of some of South America's most dramatic…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCotopaxi National Park
Mulaló, Ecuador
+211 birds+6 mammals
High in Ecuador's volcanic corridor, where the páramo transitions into cloud forest along the slopes of Cotopaxi volcano, the national park unfolds across nearly 500 square…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLlanganates National Park
Tena, Ecuador
+239 birds+8 mammals
Where the eastern slopes of the Andes plunge toward the Amazon basin, Llanganates National Park sprawls across nearly 3,500 square kilometers of montane wilderness, its terrain…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCajas National Park
Cuenca, Ecuador
+190 birds+7 mammals
High in the Andes above Cuenca, where elevation ranges from 3,100 to 4,200 metres, the páramo landscape dominates—a windswept realm of cushion plants, alpine grasses, and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Munchique National Park
El Tambo, Colombia
+194 birds
Where the Western Cordillera rises steeply from the Pacific plains of southwestern Colombia, Natural Munchique National Park sprawls across 1,078 square kilometers of montane forest that…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Serranía de los Yariguíes National Park
El Carmen de Chucurí, Colombia
+320 birds+3 mammals
Where the northern cordilleras of Colombia rise toward cloud forest, the Serranía de los Yariguíes unfolds across nearly 1,820 square kilometers of some of the most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Farallones de Cali National Park
Buenaventura, Colombia
+733 birds+27 mammals
Where the Pacific coastal plain meets the western slopes of the Andes, Farallones de Cali National Park sprawls across nearly 3,500 square kilometers of dramatic topography…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Chingaza National Park
Junín, Colombia
+285 birds+6 mammals
Where the Andes rise above three thousand metres in the Cundinamarca region, high-altitude grasslands and cloud forests converge in a landscape shaped by both geology and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Pisba National Park
Socotá, Colombia
+95 birds
High-altitude grasslands and páramo ecosystems sweep across the Andean terrain of this national park, where thin soils and cool, windswept conditions define a landscape shaped by…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural el Cocuy National Park
Güicán, Colombia
+313 birds+3 mammals
Where the Andes rise to their highest peaks in Colombia's eastern cordillera, El Cocuy National Park sprawls across more than 6,600 square kilometers of some of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPuracé National Natural Park
Puracé, Colombia
+327 birds+2 mammals
Where the Andes thrust upward across southwestern Colombia, Puracé National Natural Park spans nearly 2,631 square kilometers of some of South America's most dramatic montane terrain.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKGuácharos Cave National Natural Park
Acevedo, Colombia
+359 birds
High in the Andean foothills of southern Huila, where mist-laden slopes rise above 1,600 metres, lies a landscape carved by underground rivers and crowned by karst…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Sumapaz National Park
Cubarral, Colombia
+368 birds+1 mammals
Where the Andes descend toward the Amazon basin, the high páramo grasslands of Sumapaz National Park sprawl across more than five thousand square kilometers of Meta…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKEl Tamá National Park
Toledo, Colombia
+435 birds
Where the Andes descend toward the Caribbean coastal lowlands of northern Colombia, El Tamá National Park sprawls across nearly 3,800 square kilometres of montane forest, cloud…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNatural Nevado del Huila National Park
Planadas, Colombia
+117 birds
Where the Colombian Andes rise above 5,000 metres, tropical cloud forest yields to páramo and glaciated peaks, and the Planadas region of Tolima contains one of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKYanachaga–chemillén National Park
Palcazu, Peru
+639 birds+6 mammals
Where the eastern slopes of Peru's central cordillera plunge into cloud forest, Yanachaga–Chemillén National Park protects nearly three thousand square kilometres of montane wilderness that few…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKManu National Park
Manu, Peru
+892 birds+26 mammals
Across the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes, tropical rainforest descends into the Amazon basin with a complexity that few terrestrial ecosystems match. Manu National Park…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKHuascarán National Park
Independencia, Peru
+201 birds+5 mammals
Where granite peaks pierce the Andean sky above 6,000 metres, Huascarán National Park sprawls across more than 11,500 square kilometres of Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a landscape…
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