Tourmaline Sunangel

Common name: Tourmaline Sunangel
Scientific name: Heliangelus exortis
Clades: Lesbiini - Coquettes

The Tourmaline sunangel is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long. The males weigh 3.5 to 8.5 g (0.12 to 0.30 oz) and the females 4 to 5.2 g (0.14 to 0.18 oz).

A Tourmaline Sunangel is a territorial hummingbird that inhabits dense, mossy cloud forests or elfin forests. In addition to forest clearings, forest edges, shrubby pastures, and hedges, they are also found in forest clearings. The majority of their time is spent foraging low in the forest interior, clinging briefly to flowers and holding their wings out in a V shape to sip nectar. It is common to see Tourmaline Sunangels perched on the outer edges of bushes acting defensively. There are violet-blue chins and magenta lower throats on males, while whitish throats are spotted on females.

Distribution Andes of Colombia (all three ranges) and E slope in Ecuador (S to Morona-Santiago).