📸 PhotoPhoto: Andy Morffew from Itchen Abbas, Hampshire, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Sword-billed Hummingbird
Ensifera ensifera (Sword-billed Hummingbird · ヤリハシハチドリ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its bill length of 8–12 cm is half to two-thirds (2/3) the length of an unsharpened pencil (about 17.5 cm), making it the longest bill relative to body size of any bird (Comparison).
- 💡 It is also known to visit garden hummingbird feeders in the Andes (eBird).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The sword-billed hummingbird is a hummingbird living in Andean mountain forests and is the only bird with a bill longer than its body.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is metallic green and bronze, and its black bill curves slightly upward and exceeds its body length. When perched, it holds its long, heavy bill pointing almost straight up.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
With its long bill it drinks nectar from long tubular flowers, and a group of long-flowered plants relies almost exclusively on this bird for pollination. Regions where the birds have the longest bills also have more long-flowered plants.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2024) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22687854/264054464
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 264054464
- • wikidata.org — Q385548
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Hilt Close-up (28704685461).jpg
- • birdsoftheworld.org — introduction
- • ebird.org — swbhum1
- • pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC6306261
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.