This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.
Don’t let its plain-sounding name fool you: The Gray-bellied Comet is dazzling. In the right light, the upper sides of this large hummingbird shimmer with greens, blues, and bronzy oranges. Males have a violet-blue throat (gorget), and both sexes have long tails similar to those of the Swallow-tailed Hummingbird and Violet-tailed Sylph.
This hummingbird is so local and uncommon that sightings of it were infrequent for many years. It was re-found in the early 1990s and is now spotted regularly within its limited range, which consists of five fragmented populations on the Pacific slope of the Andes in north-central Peru.
The Gray-bellied Comet’s stronghold is in Peru’s Chonta Valley, an area of arid mountain slopes and canyons only a few miles from the rapidly growing city of Cajamarca. The Chonta Valley also provides habitat for several other imperiled bird species, including the Near Threatened Great Spinetail and the Vulnerable White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant.
Learn more about the Gray-bellied Comet at https://abcbirds.org/birds/gray-bellied-comet/
American Bird Conservancy stands up for birds across the Americas. We halt bird extinctions, conserve vital habitats, eliminate key threats, and build the capacity of our partners.
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