About Conirostrum sitticolor Lafresnaye, 1840
The blue-backed conebill (Conirostrum sitticolor Lafresnaye, 1840) is a small bird that weighs 11 to 13 grams. Subspecies differ slightly in appearance, but all have some black on the head, a blue back, rump, and tail, and an orange underside. The nominate subspecies, C. s. sitticolor, has a fully black head and throat, and black wings. C. s. cyaneum has a black cheek, chin, lore, and crown, plus a blue post-ocular stripe and throat, and blue wings. As its name suggests, C. s. intermedium has an appearance intermediate between these two subspecies, with a black face, throat, and crown, a blue post-ocular stripe that does not extend past the eye, and black wings. This species occurs along the Andes mountain range from northern to central South America, stretching from Cerro Pintado on the Colombia-Venezuela border in the north to Cochabamba Department in Bolivia in the south. In Venezuela, it can be found in the Cordillera de Mérida and the Sierra de Perijá mountain ranges, across the states of Zulia, Táchira, Mérida, Barinas, Trujillo, Portuguesa, and Lara. In Colombia, it is present in the Central and Eastern Ranges of the Andes, the Sierra de Perijá Range, and in an isolated population near the town of Frontino. In Ecuador, the species occurs in the central part of the country in the La Sierra region, extending from the Colombian border in the north to the Peruvian border in the south. C. s. sitticolor occurs along the western slopes of the Andes, reaching its southern range limit in Cajamarca, Peru. C. s. cyaneum is also found in Peru, ranging from Amazonas in the north along the eastern slopes of the Andes into central Bolivia.
