Scissor-tailed hummingbird

Scissor-tailed hummingbird
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Genus:	Hylonympha Gould, 1873
Species:	H. macrocerca
Binomial name
Hylonympha macrocerca Gould, 1873

The scissor-tailed hummingbird (Hylonympha macrocerca) is a bird species in the family Trochilidae, the only member of the genus Hylonympha. In Jamaica, the Red-billed streamertail is also known as the scissor-tail or scissors tail hummingbird.

Distribution

This species can be found only in Venezuela. It was formerly (2004) classified as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN. But new research has shown it to be rarer than it was believed. Consequently, it is uplisted to Endangered status in 2008.

Habitat

Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical lower and upper moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss, at an elevation of 800–1,200 metres (2,600–3,900 ft) above sea level.

Description

Hylonympha macrocerca can reach a length of about 19 centimetres (7.5 in), with a 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long tail. Males of these hummingbirds show an amazing blackish-purple forked long tail, a metallic dark green plumage with a shining violet cap, an emerald breast and a blackish-green hind crown. In the females the tail is shorter than in males. They are dark green, with a chestnut belly and a white centre of breast. Bill is black, long and slightly decurved.

Biology

These hummingberds in primary forests mainly feed on nectar of Bromeliaceae flowers and on small insects, whereas in secondary forests they feed at Heliconia aurea and Costus species.

Distribution map

References

• del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International.

External links

• Speak up for the voiceless