With its long and beautiful blue-violet tail the male is one of the most easily recognized hummers. Full streamers are sported by relatively few individuals, and many have shorter, but still long, tails. The female is also distinctive, with its rusty-orange belly, white breast and tail tips, and blue crown. Occasionally females lack the broad white breast band (as in the top photo) and they are then easily confused with Long-tailed Sylph. Long-tailed Sylph has not been certainly recorded from Tandayapa, so check the crown color: blue in Violet-tailed, green in Long-tailed.

male	female (lacking white breast)
female