Order: Apodiformes | Family: Trochilidae | IUCN Status: Least Concern
Age: Adult | Sex: Male | Loc. Southeast Peru
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Southeast Peru
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Southeast Peru
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Northeast Peru
Identification & Behavior: ~9 cm (3.5 in). The male Sword-billed Hummingbird is all green with a forked, relatively short tail. The female is mostly green with grayish heavily-speckled with green on the throat down to the mid breast and belly. The tail is also relatively short and forked. The bill in both sexes is extremely long. It favors the canopy of montane forest and favors flowers with a long corolla. No other hummingbird has such a long bill. But see the male Great Sapphirewing.
Status: The Sword-billed Hummingbird is uncommon in humid montane forest on the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 2400-3600 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.
Name in Spanish: Colibrí Pico-Espada.
Sub-species: Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera), Boissonneau, 1840.
Meaning of Name: Ensifera: L. ensis = sword and fera, ferre= bearing, to bear. ensifera.
Read about feeding adaptations in hummingbirds.
See more of the Family Trochilidae 
Distribution Map
Voice
VoiceReferences:
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- Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo). The Field Museum. http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 08/01/2015.