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| Giant Hummingbird | ||||||||||||||
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 Patagona gigas print by John Gould
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| Patagona gigas (Vieillot, 1824) |
The Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas) is the largest member of the hummingbird family, weighing 18-20 g (6/10 - 7/10 of an ounce). It measures eight and a half inches in length (~23cm), which is about the length of a European Starling or a Gray Catbird. It is the only member of the genus Patagona.
The Giant Hummingbird is found between 2,000 and 3,800 meters (6,500-11,000 feet) above sea level in the Andes of South America, from northern Ecuador to central Chile and Argentina.
In Bolivia, the Giant Hummingbird is known in Quechua as "burro q'enti". The Spanish word "burro" refers to its dull, relatively unattractive plumage compared to other locally occurring hummingbirds (e.g. Red-tailed Comet).
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Patagona gigas. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Fjeldsa, Jon, and Niels Krabbe. 1990. Birds of the High Andes. Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 876 pp.
External links
- Giant Hummingbird videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- - photographs of this and other hummingbird species
- Giant Hummingbird photo gallery VIREO
- Photo-Med Res; Article borderland-tours
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