Sword-billed Hummingbird

Ensifera ensifera

The only bird whose bill is longer than its body. Pollinates flowers nothing else can reach.

Population: No quantified global census exists (IUCN notes exact number of mature individuals is unknown); described by the IUCN 2016 assessment as "uncommon and patchily distributed" across a large Andean range (estimated extent of occurrence ~3,110,000 km²), with a stable population trend and no evidence of substantial decline
Habitat: Humid/wet subtropical-tropical montane (cloud) forest as primary habitat, with secondary use of forest edge, shrubland, grassland/paramo patches and rural gardens, mainly at 1,700-3,500 m elevation (most frequent 2,400-3,100 m)
Fun fact: The Sword-billed Hummingbird is the only bird whose bill is longer than the rest of its body (excluding the tail) — the largest bill-to-body-length ratio of any bird — and because the bill is too long to use for preening, the bird scratches and grooms its feathers with its feet instead.
Range: Andes of South America across Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Venezuela
Diet: Nectar specialist feeding on long-corolla flowers (notably co-evolved with Passiflora mixta and other passionflowers, whose deep corollas few other pollinators can reach); also hawks small flying insects for protein, catching them with the bill open
Size: 0.21 m
Lifespan: 10 years

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