Animalia Life

Ensifera ensifera
SUBFAMILY
Trochilinae
TAXONOMY
Ornismya ensifera Boissonneau, 1840, Bogotб, Colombia. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Colibri porte-йpйe; German: Schwertschnabelkolibri; Spanish: Colibrн Picoespada.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
6.7–9 in (17–22.8 cm, including bill of 3.5–4.3 in [9–11 cm]); female and male 0.42–0.53 oz (12–15 g). Longest bill of any hummingbird; straight to slightly upturned, black. Male is dark green, head coppery, postocular spot white; throat blackish, underparts glittering emerald green, belly dark gray; tail forked, blackish. Female similar to male, has underparts lighter with throat and belly washed gray with green discs; tail less forked. Immatures resemble adult females.
DISTRIBUTION
Andes from west Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to northeast Bolivia.
HABITAT
Humid to semi-humid upper montane forest and forest edges, sometimes at patches of shrubs in pбramo, at 5,600–11,500 ft (1,700–3,500 m), commonest at 8,200–9,850 ft (2,500–3,000 m).
BEHAVIOR
Sedentary. A species little known to science.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Flowers visited for nectar have long, pendent corollas, and include Fuchsia, Datura, Passiflora mixta, and Tacsonia. Hawks for insects in swift-like manner with wide open bill. Trap-lines for flowers in mid- to upper strata; sometimes perches below flowers while feeding.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
No reliable information. One unconfirmed observation of a female defending a possible nesting site high up in a tree in April (Ecuador); another doubtful description records several moss nests 50 ft (15 m) above ground in a tree.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Rare to locally common.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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