![]() The extremely long bill helps the species feed on flowers with long corollas that are inaccessible to other species. It is black, heavy, and slightly upturned. The sword-billed hummingbird is the only known bird whose bill is longer than the rest of the body, excluding the tail. The tail is less deeply forked and is edged grayish white. ![]() Females have similar upperparts, but have white underparts and grayish throats and bellies speckled with green. Some males have white on the chin and throat. Males have bronze-green upperparts with coppery-bronze heads, a discreet white spot behind the eye, dusky throats, metallic green underparts, a dark gray belly, and a forked blackish bronze-green tail. Males have shorter bills but longer wings and tails than females. The sword-billed hummingbird displays sexual dimorphism. The bill is the largest of any hummingbird and the largest with respect to body length for any bird. The most distinctive feature of the species is the enormous bill, which is 8–12 centimetres (3.1–4.7 in) long. Adults are 13–14 centimetres (5.1–5.5 in) long excluding the bill and weigh 10–15 g (0.35–0.53 oz), with males being slightly larger on average than females. The sword-billed hummingbird is among the largest species of hummingbirds. However, it has since been lumped with the nominate subspecies as it is likely that the specimen had either aberrant plumage or was discolored. In 1939, Ensifera ensifera caerulescens was described as a subspecies by Willoughby Lowe on the basis of a specimen from the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. The sword-billed hummingbird is the only species in the genus Ensifera. Other common names for the species include sword billed hummingbird, swordbill, and swordbill hummingbird. Sword-billed hummingbird is the official common name designated by the International Ornithologists' Union. The generic and specific name ensifera is derived from the Latin words ensis (sword) and ferre (to carry) and means sword-wielder, referring to the species' large beak. It was moved to the genus Ensifera in 1843 by René Lesson. The sword-billed hummingbird was first described as Ornismya ensifera by Auguste Boissonneau in 1839 on the basis of specimens from Santa Fé, Bogotá, Colombia. ![]() The sword-billed hummingbird is listed as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the IUCN Red List, but is threatened by climate change and deforestation. It breeds from February to March and builds cup nests using moss. The sword-billed hummingbird is a trap-line feeder and feeds on nectar, especially from Passiflora mixta and other passionflowers. While most hummingbirds preen using their bills, the sword-billed hummingbird uses its feet to scratch and preen due to its bill being so long. It uses its bill to drink nectar from flowers with long corollas and has coevolved with the species Passiflora mixta. ![]() Among the largest species of hummingbird, it is characterized by its unusually long bill, being the only bird to have a beak longer than the rest of its body, excluding the tail. It is the only member in the genus Ensifera. The sword-billed hummingbird ( Ensifera ensifera), also known as the swordbill, is a neotropical species of hummingbird from the Andean regions of South America. Distribution range of the sword-billed hummingbird
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