Green-breasted Mango - BirdForum Opus

Male
Photo by scottishdude
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica, March 2011

Anthracothorax prevostii

Identification

11–12 cm
Adult male: mostly green, maroon tail, black stripe with blue borders from throat through central breast.
Females differ in having white around the black stripe on underside, and in having white tip and a black subterminal band to tail.
Juvenile as female but with rufous between green and white on undersides.

Female
Photo by Marian Alvarez
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica, August, 2006

Similar species

Replaced in Panama (Pacific side) by Veraguan Mango which differs by the central stripe being greenish-blue, not black.

Distribution

Central America and South America
Central America: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and northwest Panama.
South America: Colombia, Venezuela Seen as vagrant in the USA.

Taxonomy

Veraguan Mango has been split from this species

Female, notice the pattern of tail is different from male
Photo by zerb21
Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Subspecies

There are 5 subspecies^[1]:

• A. p. prevostii :

• Eastern Mexico to Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador

• A. p. gracilirostris:

• El Salvador and Honduras south on the Pacific slope to central Costa Rica and on the Caribbean slope to northwestern Panama (Bocas del Toro).

• A. p. hendersoni (pinchoti):

• Isla Providéncia and Isla San Andrés (off east Nicaragua)

• A. p. viridicordatus:

• Extreme north-eastern Colombia (Guajira Pen.) and coastal northern Venezuela

The subspecies iridescens was recently transferred to Black-throated Mango.

Habitat

Midland forest and forest edges, banana and aloe vera plantations; open country, pasture.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on nectar and comes to feeders; will probably also catch insects as other Mango's.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2) DRAFT. Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Avibase
4. Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
5. Garrigues and Dean 2007. The birds of Costa Rica - a field guide. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7373-9

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Green-breasted Mango. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Green-breasted_Mango

External Links

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