Violet Sabrewing

Campylopterus hemileucurus (Deppe, 1830)

Spanish: Fandanguero Morado

The Violet Sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus) is a hummingbird in the subfamily Trochilinae (mountain gems, bees and emeralds), tribe Trochilini (emeralds). It weighs about 9.7 g and its bill is 32.7 mm long. It lives in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, Mexico and El Salvador. Its IUCN Red List status is Least concern, with a decreasing population.

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At a glance

Weight

9.7 g, about 10 paperclips

Bill

32.7 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 Trochilinae mountain gems, bees and emeralds
3. Tribe Trochilini emeralds
4. Genus Campylopterus sabrewings

What Campylopterus share: Males have thickened, bent shafts on their outer wing feathers (the 'sabres').

Where it lives · 8 countries

• Costa Rica
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Panama
• Nicaragua
• Belize
• Mexico
• El Salvador

Others in the genus Campylopterus

• Diamantina Sabrewing Campylopterus diamantinensis
• Rufous-breasted Sabrewing Campylopterus hyperythrus
• Outcrop Sabrewing Campylopterus calcirupicola
• Buff-breasted Sabrewing Campylopterus duidae
• Gray-breasted Sabrewing Campylopterus largipennis
• Napo Sabrewing Campylopterus villaviscensio
• Lazuline Sabrewing Campylopterus falcatus
• Santa Marta Sabrewing Campylopterus phainopeplus
• White-tailed Sabrewing Campylopterus ensipennis

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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