Rufous-vented whitetip

The rufous-vented whitetip and purple-bibbed whitetip (Urosticte benjamini) have been treated as conspecific and as distinct species, each by multiple authors. Since the early 2000s there is consensus that they are species in their own right. They are the only members of their genus and both are monotypic.[5][3][6][4]

The rufous-vented whitetip is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 4 to 4.2 g (0.14 to 0.15 oz). Both sexes have a medium-length straight black bill and a prominent white stripe behind the eye. Both have shining green upperparts and a forked tail, though the female's is not as deeply indented as the male's. Males have shining green underparts with buffy undertail coverts. The tail is dusky bronze; the central feathers have wide white tips. Females have white underparts spotted with green. The tail is dusky bronze with white tips on the outermost feathers. Juveniles are similar to females with the addition of brown edges on the head feathers.[7]

The rufous-vented whitetip is found on the eastern slope of the Andes from Colombia's Huila and Nariño departments south through eastern Ecuador into Peru's Department of San Martín. It inhabits the interior and edges of partly open montane forest and cloudforest between elevations of 1,600 and 2,400 m (5,200 and 7,900 ft).[7]

The IUCN has assessed the rufous-vented whitetip as being of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is generally uncommon throughout its restricted range. It occurs in several protected areas in Colombia but the Ecuadorean cloudforest is heavily logged.[7]