Green-backed Firecrown Sephanoides sephaniodes
Chilean name: Picaflor chico
Green-backed  Firecrown, Puyehue N.P., Chile, November 2005 - click for larger image Chile

The Green-backed Firecrown is distributed in Chile south of the Atacama desert and adjacent areas of Argentina. They are found in a wide variety of habitats below 2,000 metres.

Green-backed  Firecrown, near Los Angeles, Chile, November 2005 - click for larger image It is the commonest small hummingbird in Chile and looks dark from a distance with an obvious white spot behind the eye. The male has an iridescent red crown patch, hence the "Firecrown" of the English name, which can best be seen head on although you can see it from above in photo 3. I think the reddish tinge on the forehead of the bird in photo 1 probably comes from pollen since it is also on the chin.
Green-backed  Firecrown, near Los Angeles, Chile, November 2005 - click for larger image

The specific name, so close to but not quite the same as the generic name, results from a misspelling when the bird was first described.

There are recordings and a distribution map on xeno-canto.

Green-backed Firecrown, Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, January 2007 - click for larger image Photo 4 was taken on Robinson Crusoe Island. Superficially the bird looks something like a female Juan Fernandez Firecrown Sephanoides fernandensis but it is noticeably smaller without the blue overtones and with more widespread spotting on the underparts.
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