Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer (Chalybura urochrysia) [XC489504]
by GABRIEL LEITE from Las Heliconias Lodge, Volcan Tenorio, Alajuela, Costa Rica (flight call)
Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer (Chalybura urochrysia) [XC261751]
by Peter Boesman from Esmeraldas: Playa de Oro, village and vicinity, R\u00edo Santiago, Ecuador (call, chase calls)
Subspecies
Subspecies melanorrhoa long considered a separate species, but intergrades with isaurae along border of Costa Rica with Panama. Geographically isolated subspecies intermedia often placed in White-vented Plumeleteer (Chalybura buffonii), but its largely pinkish mandible supports treatment in present species. Nevertheless, it might be better considered a separate species. More study is required.
Proposed subspecies incognita probably best treated as a synonym of isaurae.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
melanorrhoa Salvin, 1865 - Caribbean slope of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
isaurae (Gould, 1861) - Caribbean slope of Panama to extreme north-western Colombia; locally on Pacific slope in western and central Panama, and extensively in eastern Panama.
urochrysia (Gould, 1861) - Extreme south-eastern Panama, north-central and western Colombia, and extreme north-western Ecuador.
intermedia E. Hartert and C. Hartert, 1894 - Subtropical zone of south-western Ecuador. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of White-vented Plumeleteer (Chalybura buffonii).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet