Greenish Puffleg (Haplophaedia aureliae) [XC86459]
by Oscar Humberto Marin-Gomez from Santa Cecilia track, above Paquisha, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador (song)
Greenish Puffleg (Haplophaedia aureliae) [XC257848]
by Mitch Lysinger from Napo: Volc\u00e1n Sumaco, Ecuador (call, flight call, take-off calls, flight calls)
Subspecies
Genus sometimes merged into Eriocnemis. Also considered to be close to Urosticte and Ocreatus. May form superspecies with Buff-thighed Puffleg (Haplophaedia assimilis) and they are usually considered conspecific, but plumage differences, together with disjunct distributions, support their treatment as separate species. Throughout its range this species shows considerable variation and consequently several additional subspecies have been proposed: galindoi and floccus, both from Darién, included within caucensis; and bernali, from Santander (north-central Colombia), within nominate.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
caucensis (Simon, 1911) - South-eastern Panama and western and central Andes of Colombia.
aureliae (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846) - Eastern Andes of Colombia, and probably also eastern slope of central Andes.
russata (Gould, 1871) - Eastern slope of Andes of Ecuador.
galindoi Wetmore, 1967 - Eastern Panama (Cerro Pirre).
cutucuensis Schuchmann, Weller & Heynen, 2000 - East slope of the Andes of south-eastern Ecuador (Cordillera de Cutucú and Cordillera del Condor) and northern Peru (south to Abra Patricia, Amazonas/San Martín border).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet