Thaumastura cora
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Peruvian sheartail (Thaumastura cora) is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is the only species placed in the genus Thaumastura. It is found in Chile, Ecuador, and Peru.
The Peruvian sheartail was first described by René Lesson and Prosper Garnot in 1827 as Ornismya cora. Bonaparte assigned it to its current genus Thaumastura in 1850. In the past, several subspecies were assigned to it but since at least the 1950s they have all been determined to be individual variation. In addition, several other species have at times been assigned to genus Thaumastura. The Peruvian sheartail is now the only member of its genus and has no subspecies.
It is closely related to the short-tailed woodstar (Myrmia micrura), purple-collared woodstar (Myrtis fanny), and oasis hummingbird (Rhodopis vesper) despite their all being in different genera. The male Peruvian sheartail is about 14 cm (5.5 in) long and weighs about 2.5 g (0.088 oz). The female about 7.5 cm (3.0 in) long and weighs about 2.6 g (0.092 oz). It is among the tiniest hummingbirds. Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aquarium de Lyon | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Nom officiel | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peruvian Sheartail sighting in Lima on a given day, based on 530 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 79th most-seen of the 171 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Peruvian Sheartail in Lima on a given day, against under 5% in April to November, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Peruvian Sheartail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Peruvian Sheartail sightings, Lima ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Arequipa (Peru, about 50%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Peruvian Sheartail is recorded against all the birds logged in Lima (530 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
