Fiery-tailed Awlbill

The fiery-tailed awlbill is 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) long and weighs about 4.3 g (0.15 oz). Its unique bill is short with a dramatically upturned tip. The adult male has green upperparts. Its throat is shiny emerald green and the belly shiny emerald green with a black center. The top of the tail is violet but for all-green central feathers. The adult female also has green upperparts. Its underparts are white with a black stripe down the middle. Its tail is bluish black and the outer feathers have white tips. Juveniles are similar to the adult female but the underside of the tail is coppery red.

The fiery-tailed awlbill is found in Amazonia, from southeastern Venezuela east through the Guianas into northern Brazil and south into Brazil as far west as Acre and as far east as Maranhão and Tocantins. There is also a disjunct population along the Napo River in eastern Ecuador. The species has been recorded as a vagrant in Colombia. The fiery-tailed awlbill primarily inhabits open savanna-like areas in primary forest where it favors vegetation near granite outcrops. It can also be found at the edges of low vegetation near rivers, semi-deciduous forest, and cerrado.

The fiery-tailed awlbill is a "trap-line" feeder, visiting a circuit of flowering plants to collect nectar. It favors Clusia and Dioclea shrubs, and feeds both by inserting its bill into flowers and by piercing the base of flowers to "rob" nectar. It also catches arthropods on the wing and by gleaning from the underside of leaves.