VICKSBURG, MISS. — At middle elevations in the northern Andes Mountains lives a hummingbird with a bill so spectacularly elongated that it sets its owner apart from all other birds. The Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is the only bird with a bill longer than the rest of its body.
Sword-billed Hummingbirds and plants with long, tubular flowers like this Passiflora (passionflower) have a special relationship. Sword-bills are the only birds that can reach nectar deep inside the corollas, and in the process of doing that, they transfer pollen from flower to flower. (Can anyone identify this Passiflora to species? I gather it’s difficult.)
And of course, the birds’ tongues are even longer!
All this specialized equipment makes sword-bills look awkwardly spectacular at feeders designed for much smaller birds. Sword-billed Hummingbirds can have bills four inches long, but North American Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are only about 3 1/2 inches in total length including bill and tail!
Check out those pink toes and long black claws.
All pictures taken at Yanacocha and Guango Lodge in Ecuador. This is part two of a series on Ecuador. See more: Pululahua 2010.
- Trying something new with images
- Rufous Hummingbird overwintering in Ozark, Mo.
- ¡Voy a Ecuador!
- Sulphur-billed Nuthatch
- One-footed Ring-billed Gull