Short-tailed Woodstar

Short-tailed Woodstar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Genus:	Myrmia
Species:	M. micrura
Binomial name
Myrmia micrura Gould, 1854

The Short-tailed Woodstar (Myrmia micrura) is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland where it is the only hummingbird of the woodstar variety. It usually feeds close to the ground and often is attracted to flowers planted around houses.

At 7 cm (2.7 in), it is one of the smallest South American birds, though the Gorgeted Woodstar and the Little Woodstar are of similar size. This bird is pale shining green with a small whitish patch on the sides of the lower back extending down to the lower flanks. The gorget is glittering violet, bordered at the sides by white malar streaks and below by a white pectoral collar extending onto the sides of the neck. The underparts are all whitish. The tail is very short and black. The female and male plumages are similar but the female has no white on the lower back and is uniform pale buffy below.

References

• BirdLife International 2004. Myrmia micrura. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 July 2007.
• "The Birds of Ecuador" by Robert S. Ridgely & Paul Greenfield. Cornell University Press (2001), ISBN 978-0801487224.