Sword Billed Hummingbird

Copyright: monacoeye • Yanacocha, Ecuador • Mar 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Sword Billed Hummingbird
Latin: Ensifera ensifera
Other: Colibri picoespada (Es)
Family: Trochilidae • Hummingbirds
Range: W Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, NE Bolivia
Similar:

There can be no mistaking the Sword-billed Hummingbird with its extraordinary 10 cm bill. Although generally a difficult bird to see it was easily viewed at the last feeders on the Yanacocha trail (3500m altitude), and was an occasional visitor to the Guango Lodge feeders when I visited.

Its bill is adapted to feed on flowers with long corollas such as the those of the passionfruit Passiflora mixta.

Females have lighter bellies than males - I still have to determine which these are…