Coppery Emerald

The male coppery emerald is 8 to 8.5 cm (3.1 to 3.3 in) long and females 7 to 7.5 cm (2.8 to 3.0 in). The species weighs between 3.2 and 3.6 g (0.11 and 0.13 oz). Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill. The male's forehead, crown, and upperparts are shining golden green. Its uppertail coverts are coppery green, and its slightly forked tail is golden coppery. Its underparts are glittering golden green. The female's forehead, crown, upperparts, flanks, and uppertail coverts are coppery green and its underparts are smoky gray. Its tail is also slightly forked; its feathers are greenish coppery and the outer four pairs of feathers have a coppery purple band near the end and pale tips. Immature coppery emeralds are similar to adult females with buffy fringes on the feathers of the head.

The coppery emerald is found in Colombia's lower Magdalena River valley and Santa Marta department (including the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta) and also Serranía del Perijá that straddles the northern Colombia/western Venezuela border. It inhabits semi-open and open landscapes such as scrublands, forest edges, and cultivated areas. The coppery emerald's elevation (flight height) ranges from sea-level to 2,600 m (8,500 ft). It is usually between 500 and 1,700 m (1,600 and 5,600 ft).

The coppery emerald forages for nectar by trap-lining, visiting a circuit of a variety of flowering plants, especially Leguminaceae, Rubiaceae, Heliconiaceae, and Gesneriaceae. It generally forages between 4 and 12 m (13 and 39 ft) above the ground. It captures small insects by hawking from a perch and sometimes by gleaning from vegetation.