Shining Sunbeam

Aglaeactis cupripennis (Bourcier, 1843)

Spanish: Colibrí Cobrizo

The Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis cupripennis) is a hummingbird in the subfamily Lesbiinae (coquettes and brilliants), tribe Heliantheini (brilliants). It weighs about 7.6 g and its bill is 22.5 mm long. It lives in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. Its IUCN Red List status is Least concern, with a stable population.

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At a glance

Weight

7.6 g, about 8 paperclips

Bill

22.5 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 Heliantheini brilliants
4. Genus Aglaeactis sunbeams

What Aglaeactis share: Males have a patch of glittering color on the back; in females it is duller or missing.

Where it lives · 3 countries

• Ecuador
• Colombia
• Peru

Others in the genus Aglaeactis

• White-tufted Sunbeam Aglaeactis castelnaudii
• Purple-backed Sunbeam Aglaeactis aliciae
• Black-hooded Sunbeam Aglaeactis pamela

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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