Swallow-tailed Hummingbird
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Quick Facts
- Scientific Name: Eupetomena macroura
- Spanish Name: Colibrí tijereta
- Family: Trochilidae
- Known Nicknames: Tesoura, Beija-flor-tesoura, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird
- Average Length: 15–18 cm / 5.9–7.1 in
- Average Weight: 6–10 g / 0.21–0.35 oz
- Wingspan: N/A
- Key Feature: Long, deeply forked blue tail resembling a swallow's tail
- Primary Diet: Primarily Nectarivore, also consumes small arthropods
- Range: Eastern and central South America, from Suriname and French Guiana south through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina
- Habitat: Open woodlands, savannas, gardens, and forest edges
- Social Structure: Solitary to loosely territorial; males are aggressive at feeding sites
- Nesting/Breeding: Small cup-shaped nest built on a horizontal tree branch, often over water
- Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC)
- Population Trend: Stable
The Swallow-tailed Hummingbird (*Eupetomena macroura*) is a striking Brazilian standout, easily recognized by its deeply forked, swallow-like tail—an unusual feature among hummingbirds—which gives it a distinctive, graceful silhouette in flight. Its general appearance is equally vivid: a brilliant emerald-green body and crown contrast sharply with a deep blue throat, chest, and tail, while a small white patch behind the eye adds a final flash of elegance. Uniquely bold and aggressive for its size, this species is a master of acrobatic aerial displays and is known to dominate feeders and flowering patches across its savanna and forest-edge habitats. A special feature is its ability to hover with remarkable stability while extending its long, specialized tongue deep into tubular flowers, making it a key pollinator in its ecosystem.
Fun Facts
Despite its name, the Swallow-tailed Hummingbird is more of a bully than a graceful acrobat, often aggressively chasing larger birds like hawks and toucans away from its territory. It is one of the few hummingbirds that regularly perches on exposed wires and rooftops to sunbathe, spreading its long, forked tail feathers wide like a fan. Its flight is uniquely undulating, with deep, exaggerated wingbeats that create a distinct "whirring" sound, unlike the typical hummingbird buzz. They have also been observed stealing nectar by piercing the base of flowers with their beak, a behavior known as "robbing," rather than using the flower’s intended entrance.
Habitats & Distribution
The Swallow-tailed Hummingbird inhabits a variety of open and semi-open environments, including savannas, cerrado woodlands, forest edges, gardens, parks, and urban areas. It is also found in coastal scrub, plantations, and along rivers in the Amazon basin. Its geographical range spans much of central and eastern South America, from northeastern Brazil (including the cerrado and caatinga regions) south to Paraguay, northern Argentina, and Bolivia, with isolated populations in the Guianas and northern Brazil. It is generally absent from dense, closed-canopy rainforest interiors, preferring areas with clearings and flowering plants.
Behaviours & Reproduction
The Swallow-tailed Hummingbird is generally solitary outside of breeding, with males defending feeding territories aggressively. Mating occurs when a male performs a courtship display involving steep, U-shaped dives and wing trills to attract a female, after which he provides no parental care. The female alone builds a small cup nest from plant fibers and spider webs, often on a horizontal branch, where she lays two white eggs. Incubation lasts about 15–16 days, and the chicks fledge after roughly 22–24 days. A unique reproductive strategy is the female’s ability to enter a state of torpor at night to conserve energy during the demanding nesting period, allowing her to maintain the high metabolic rate needed for feeding chicks while enduring cooler temperatures.
Diet
The Swallow-tailed Hummingbird is a nectar specialist, relying heavily on the sugary liquid from a wide variety of tubular flowers, including those of the Malvaceae, Bignoniaceae, and Rubiaceae families. Interestingly, it is highly territorial and will aggressively defend its favorite feeding patches from other hummingbirds and even larger insects. Beyond nectar, it supplements its diet with small arthropods like spiders and insects, which it snatches from leaves or catches in mid-air, providing essential protein and fats, especially during breeding season. A unique aspect of its foraging is its use of “trap-lining,” a strategy where it repeatedly visits a circuit of specific, widely-spaced flowers in a predictable order to maximize efficiency.
Colors
The Swallow-tailed Hummingbird has a vibrant green body and head, a deep blue throat and chest, and a dark blue forked tail. Its most distinctive feature is the long, deeply forked tail that gives it its name. It lacks specific camouflage adaptations, instead relying on its iridescent colors that flash in sunlight.
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