The nominate subspecies of buff-tailed coronet is found from the Andes of western Venezuela's Mérida state south and west through all three Andean ranges of Colombia. B. f. tinochlora is found from southwestern Colombia south along the west slope of the Andes as far as Cotopaxi Province in central Ecuador and also in a few places on Ecuador's eastern Andean slope.
The identified subspecies of buff-tailed coronet is situated in the Andes mountain range in western Venezuela, covering all three Colombian ranges. B. f. tinochlora inhabits southwestern Colombia, moving south along the western Andean slope to central Ecuador's Cotopaxi Province and occasionally on Ecuador's eastern slope.