MALE TUFTED COQUETTE, PRIVATE HOME, BLANCHISSEUSE RD, TUNAPUNA-PIARCO, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO, 3/17/2024 - NEW SPECIES TO OUR LIFE LIST

   We can ID this hummingbird as a male Tufted Coquette as follows:

• Orange/rufous crest.  This differentiates the male from the female, which doesn't have this crest.
• Black-spotted orangey plumes that extend from the sides of the neck. Again, the male has these, the female doesn't.
• Short (for a hummingbird) black tipped reddish bill.
• Greenish upperparts with whitish rump band.

   The Tufted Coquette breeds in eastern Venezuela, Trinidad, Guiana and northern Brazil.  It appears to be a local or seasonal migrant, but its movements are not well understood.

   The Tufted Coquette is a new species to our ebird Photographic Life List. Our ebird Life List now stands at 1,130.