Shining Sunbeam

Common name: Shining Sunbeam
Scientific name: Aglaeactis cupripennis
Clades: Heliantheini - Brilliants

The Shining Sunbeam is 12 to 13 cm (4.7 to 5.1 in) long. The males weigh 7.6 to 8.1 g (0.27 to 0.29 oz) and the females 6.9 to 7.5 g (0.24 to 0.26 oz).

The Shining Sunbeam hummingbird has a dark-brown body and a lilac-gold iridescent lower back and rump. Sunbeams have relatively short bills for hummingbirds. This species lives in cloud forests and semiarid montane ridges at high altitudes. Altitudinal migrants generally descend seasonally to lower elevations. A male Shining Sunbeam will aggressively defend its feeding territory from other hummingbirds. The Shining Sunbeam eats mainly nectar but also arthropods. The Shining Sunbeam consists of two subspecies. There is no white in the plumage of either sex, which makes the Shining Sunbeam unique among Algaeactis species.

2 subspecies:

1. A. c. cupripennis
   Distribution all three Andean ranges of Colombia, S through Ecuador and Peru (S to La Libertad and, on E slope, to N Huánuco).

2. A. c. caumatonota
   Distribution C and SC Peru (S La Libertad to Lima and, on E slope, S Huánuco to Cuzco).