Sword-billed Hummingbird

• GeneralThe only bird whose bill is longer than its own body; it has to perch with the bill pointing skywards.
• It is the only bird in the world whose bill is longer than its body, and it cannot preen with it: it uses its feet to clean its plumage, something no other hummingbird needs to do.
• At rest it holds its bill pointing steeply upwards so as not to overbalance, a posture that makes it unmistakable even in silhouette.
• Its bill and the flowers of Passiflora mixta have lengthened one another over evolutionary time: each depends exclusively on the other in order to breed or to feed.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Andean cloud forest and montane scrub, between 1,700 and 3,500 metres

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

18 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

2 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensifera_ensifera

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.