The Black-breasted Puffleg (Eriocnemis nigrivestis) is an average sized (8.5 cm in length) species of hummingbird

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...

  endemic to Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. It has a very restricted range, being found only on the Northwestern slopes of the Pichincha volcano

Pichincha (volcano)

Pichincha is an active stratovolcano in the country of Ecuador, whose capital Quito wraps around its eastern slopes. The mountain's two highest peaks are the Guagua , which means "child" in Quechua and the Rucu , which means "old person". The active caldera is in the Guagua, on the western side of...

 and it is critically endangered. On the 23rd of June, 2005 this bird was adopted as the emblem of the city of Quito

Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

, which, being just on the other side of the volcano, is very close to where the last populations of the species are found.

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• Black-breasted Puffleg videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Photo-High Res; Article mindobirds.com
• Black-breasted Puffleg photo gallery VIREO Photo-High Res