Red-tailed Comet

Sappho sparganurus (Shaw, 1812)

Spanish: Colibrí Cometa

The Red-tailed Comet (Sappho sparganurus) is a hummingbird in the subfamily Lesbiinae (coquettes and brilliants), tribe Lesbiini (coquettes). It weighs about 5.3 g and its bill is 20.1 mm long. It lives in Argentina and Bolivia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least concern, with a stable population.

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At a glance

Weight

5.3 g, about 5 paperclips

Bill

20.1 mm

Lives in

Shrubland

Moves

Stays put all year

Red List status

Least concern, stable

Its place in the family

1. Family Trochilidae hummingbirds
2. Subfamily Lesbiinae coquettes and brilliants
3. Tribe Lesbiini coquettes
4. Genus Sappho comets

Where it lives · 4 countries

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Chile uncertain
• Peru uncertain

Nearest relatives, in the tribe Lesbiini (coquettes)

• Venezuelan Sylph Aglaiocercus berlepschi
• Bronze-tailed Comet Polyonymus caroli
• Violet-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus coelestis
• Gray-bellied Comet Taphrolesbia griseiventris
• Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingii
• Ecuadorian Hillstar Oreotrochilus chimborazo
• Speckled Hummingbird Adelomyia melanogenys
• Blue-throated Hillstar Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus
• Peruvian Piedtail Phlogophilus harterti
• Green-headed Hillstar Oreotrochilus stolzmanni

Sources

Names: eBird/Clements Checklist (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Groups: Dickinson & Remsen (2013) and McGuire et al. (2014). Weight, bill, habitat and movement: AVONET (Tobias et al. 2022, CC BY 4.0). Countries: BirdLife International DataZone, checked against eBird records via GBIF. Red List status and trend: BirdLife International, the IUCN Red List authority for birds.

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