Purple-crowned Fairy boasts bright green plumage above and snowy white feathers below. The male is distinguished by a purple forehead and crown, while both sexes feature a black mask across the eye

Order: Apodiformes | Family: Trochilidae | IUCN Status: Least Concern

 

Identification & Behavior: ~12.5 cm (5 in). The Purple-crowned Fairy is bright green above and snowy white below. The male has a purple forehead and crown. Both sexes have a black mask across the eye.

 

The three pairs of outer tail feathers are white. The closely related and very similar Black-eared Fairy occurs on the eastern Amazonian lowlands. It forages in the canopy and mid-canopy of the humid semi-deciduous forest in extreme northwest Peru, in Tumbes.

Status: The Purple-crowned Fairy is rare in the humid semi-deciduous forest of extreme northwest Peru in the Department of Tumbes. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Colibrí-Hada de Corona Púrpura.

Sub-species: Purple-crowned Fairy (Heliothryx barroti), Bourcier 1843.

Meaning of Name: Heliothryx: Gr. Hēlios= sun and thrix, trikhos=  hair. barroti: In honor of Théodore Adolphe Barrot (1801-1870), French diplomat in Colombia 1831-1835, and the Philippines 1835-1838.