About Heliangelus exortis (Fraser, 1840)
Size and Weight
The tourmaline sunangel (scientific name Heliangelus exortis (Fraser, 1840)) is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long. Males weigh 3.5 to 8.5 g (0.12 to 0.30 oz), while females weigh 4 to 5.2 g (0.14 to 0.18 oz).
Bill Characteristics
Its bill is blackish, straight, and medium in length.
Shared Plumage Features
Both sexes have dark shining green upperparts and dusky gray underparts marked with round green spots. The central feathers of their tail are dark bronze, and the remaining tail feathers are blackish.
Adult Male Plumage
Adult males have a glittering green frontlet just above the bill, a dark purple-blue chin, and a glittering rosy pink gorget with a glittering emerald green border below it.
Adult Female Plumage
Adult females do not have the green frontlet; their chin is blackish, and their throat is whitish with green to dusky speckles, and sometimes has a few glittering rosy feathers.
Juvenile Plumage
Juveniles resemble adult females, but juvenile males have a white chin.
Geographic Range
The tourmaline sunangel is found in all three Andes ranges of Colombia, and extends south along the eastern slope to Ecuador's Morona-Santiago Province.
Habitat Types
It inhabits the interior and edges of humid to wet premontane forest, especially cloudforest and elfin forest. It also occurs in bushy clearings and shrubby pastures.
Elevation Range
It mostly occurs at elevations between 2,300 and 3,400 m (7,500 and 11,200 ft), but can be found as low as 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
