Longest hummingbird

The Book of World Records officially recognizes that The longest species of hummingbird is South America’s sword-billed hummingbird Ensifera ensifera, which can attain a total beak-tip to tail-tip length of over 25 cm. However, its exceptionally lengthy beak can in itself account for over 10 cm of that total length, whereas the entire tail-tip to beak-base length is only up to 14 cm. Indeed, its beak is actually longer than its entire body (excluding its tail feathers). Males are slightly longer in total length than females. This remarkable species inhabits tropical montane forests of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, and uses its exceptionally long beak to obtain nectar in flowers with very long, deep corollas inaccessible to other birds. Only slightly shorter than this species is the giant hummingbird Patagona gigas, which is up to 23 cm long. However, its beak is proportionately much shorter and its body far bigger, thus it is much heavier than the sword-billed species (weighing 18–24 g in comparison to the sword-billed species’ weight of only 10–15 g), and is comparable in overall size to a European starling.