GREEN VIOLET-EAR Colibri thalassinus (Swainson, 1827)

Accepted: 1 (50%)
Not accepted: 1	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 0	Color image: none

This large hummingbird occupies mountains from central Mexico to Bolivia. There are numerous records of vagrants from Texas and adjacent states, and the species has been recorded a remarkable number of times as far north as Minnesota (NAB 58:532) and southern Canada and as far east as North Carolina, West Virginia (NAB 57:488–489), and New Jersey (NAB 60:47, 172). Escott (1992) detailed the first Canadian record and listed the United States occurrences; William­son (2001) provided more current information on the distribution of northerly vagrants.

The record of California’s first Green Violet-ear—a bird present from 30 July to 1 August 1977 on Mt. Pinos in Kern County—originally circulated through the CBRC as a sight report and was accepted by six members. Three decades later, in 2006, recircula­tion of the record with the addition of a low-resolution photograph resulted in the Committee’s unanimous endorsement.

Patten (1998) briefly discussed captive hummingbirds, their potential for escape, and the similarity of the Sparkling Violet-ear (Colibri corus­cans) of South America to the Green Violet-ear.