Sword-billed Hummingbird

Ensifera ensifera (Boissonneau, 1840)

Spanish: Colibrí Picoespada

The Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is a hummingbird in the subfamily Lesbiinae (coquettes and brilliants), tribe Heliantheini (brilliants). It weighs about 11.2 g and its bill is 97.4 mm long. It lives in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least concern, with a decreasing population.

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At a glance

Weight

11.2 g, about 11 paperclips

Bill

97.4 mm

Lives in

Forest

Moves

Stays put all year

Red List status

Least concern, decreasing

Its place in the family

1. Family Trochilidae hummingbirds
2. Subfamily Lesbiinae coquettes and brilliants
3. Tribe Heliantheini brilliants
4. Genus Ensifera

What Ensifera share: The bill is longer than the rest of the body, the only bird for which this is true.

Where it lives · 5 countries

• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Peru
• Venezuela
• Bolivia

Nearest relatives, in the tribe Heliantheini (brilliants)

• Mountain Velvetbreast Lafresnaya lafresnayi
• Great Sapphirewing Pterophanes cyanopterus
• Blue-throated Starfrontlet Coeligena helianthea
• Buff-tailed Coronet Boissonneaua flavescens
• Merida Starfrontlet Coeligena eos
• Chestnut-breasted Coronet Boissonneaua matthewsii
• Golden-bellied Starfrontlet Coeligena bonapartei
• Velvet-purple Coronet Boissonneaua jardini
• Perija Starfrontlet Coeligena consita
• White-booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii

Sources

Names: eBird/Clements Checklist (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Groups: Dickinson & Remsen (2013) and McGuire et al. (2014). Weight, bill, habitat and movement: AVONET (Tobias et al. 2022, CC BY 4.0). Countries: BirdLife International DataZone, checked against eBird records via GBIF. Red List status and trend: BirdLife International, the IUCN Red List authority for birds.

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