Diamantina Sabrewing
Campylopterus diamantinensis
Large hummingbird of montane forests and edges. Restricted range in mountains of southeastern Brazil. Plain gray below and iridescent green above. Note large dark tail with white tips; also look for fairly heavy, slightly dropped bill and white spot behind eye. Occurs mostly in forest clearings or other semi-open habitats such as edges, tree fall gaps, and gardens. Forages at low- to mid-levels.
Identification
The Diamantina sabrewing is a large hummingbird, about 13.4 cm (5.3 in) long. Males weigh about 8.5 g (0.30 oz) and females 8.0 g (0.28 oz). The sexes have almost identical plumage including a white spot behind the eye. Their bill is long and slightly decurved; the maxilla is black and the mandible whitish with a brownish tip. Male's upperparts are dark grass green with a darker crown and their underparts dark gray. Their tail's central two pairs of feathers are metallic bronze-green. The other three pairs have bright bronze-green bases that grades through dark olive gray to a wide white tip. The female differs only by being a slightly duller green.
Taxonomy
The Diamantina sabrewing was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the grey-breasted sabrewing (Campylopterus largipennis). In a 2017 paper Lopes et al. provided convincing evidence that it deserved species status. Starting in 2020 the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society and worldwide taxonomic systems agreed, recognizing the Diamantina sabrewing. It is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Campylopterus diamantinensis
- Authority
- Ruschi, 1963
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Campylopterus
Range and habitat
The Diamantina sabrewing is found only in the Espinhaço Range of southeastern Brazil's Minas Gerais state. It inhabits forested streams and ravines in campos rupestre, a high elevation, dry, fire-prone biome between 1,000 and 2,000 m (3,300 and 6,600 ft). The type locality is Córrego das Pedras in the municipality of Diamantina.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Lewin's Honeyeater
Meliphaga lewinii
A medium-sized olive-gray honeyeater with a pale yellow cheek patch and a relatively stout bill. Cheek patch is often a crescent compared to the circular patch on Graceful Honeyeater and the oval path on Yellow-spotted Honeyeater. Adults have a bluish eye, while the similar Graceful Honeyeater has a blue-gray eye and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater has a brown eye. Listen for the rapid staccato machine-gun call of Lewin’s compared to the loud repeated whistles of the Yellow-spotted Honeyeater and the more simple, single note call of Graceful Honeyeater. Of the three easily confusable species, this is the only one found away from the tropics; it occurs in wetter forests and gardens all along the eastern coast of Australia.
Slender-billed Kite
Helicolestes hamatus
Medium-sized, dark raptor with distinctive shape. Adult plumage is entirely slate gray with red legs; immature similar but shows some pale barring on underparts and tail. Note contrasting yellow eye and exceptionally long, decurved bill; in flight, shows very short tail, broad wings, and lack of any white in plumage. Inhabits swampy forests, where it perches quietly at lower and middle levels, preying on snails. Soars frequently but seldom high or for very long (note distinctive flight profile). Call is an explosive single note, falling in pitch and with complaining quality, much like call of Roadside Hawk but more nasal. Most similar to Snail Kite but has yellow (not red) eye, shorter tail with no white, and is generally found in and over closed-canopy forest habitats that Snail Kite avoids.
Red-billed Duck
Anas erythrorhyncha
This small duck has a solidly chocolate-brown ‘skull cap’, white cheeks, and a distinctive pink-red bill with a dark saddle. In flight, the buff flight feathers with a black stripe are distinctive on otherwise all-brown wings. It prefers foraging on open fresh water, with seeds and plant matter forming the majority of its diet. The similar Blue-billed Teal differs from Red-billed Duck by being smaller and having a silvery-blue bill and dark smudges on the cheeks. Cape Teal and Bernier’s Teal (the latter endemic to Madagascar) both lack the strongly contrasting face pattern of Red-billed Duck.
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