Considered by many experts to be the most extravagant hummingbird in the world, it is an endemic bird from the northern Amazon of Peru, and stands out for its extravagant tail, whose feathers change color from time to time.
With the scientific name Loddigesia mirabilis, the spatuletail hummingbird lives between 2,000 and 2,900 meters above sea level. n. m., and it is one of the most requested species by tourists who come to the north of the Peruvian Amazon and seek to appreciate the bright colors of its plumage and how it “floats” in the air in a rather peculiar way.
Main Features
The most outstanding detail of this bird is its tail, which -in the males- has four feathers: two are straight in the middle -and they are smaller- and the other two have a wide tip and open like rackets that are they cross each other, ending in a large violet-blue disk that can move independently of their body.
This last characteristic, the male hummingbird uses it, mainly, in its mating dances and to scare away its predators (its greatest enemy is the snake). On her part, the female does not have colors as vivid as those of the male, she is somewhat smaller and lacks the two longest tail feathers.
This hummingbird is about 15 cm long and its weight ranges between 40 and 70 g; In addition, the color of its body is iridescent -like most hummingbirds-, that means that it changes color depending on which point you look at me from.
His head is blue and his throat is green. It has a long beak and a thin, elongated tongue that it uses to feed on the nectar of flowers and occasionally on insects and small spiders. This species has a sac in the throat that serves as a stomach. Another of his peculiarities is at the time of eating, as he seems to be in a state of frenzy.
The importance of the spatuletail hummingbird for the ecosystem lies in the fact that many tropical forest plants thank this bird for their existence. When this species visits the flower and collects its nectar, the pollen adheres to its plumage or bill to ensure plant diversity and reproduction.
Where to Find It?
Mainly, it is located in the Upper the Valley of Utcubamba. This destination -located in the northeastern part of Peru, in the provinces of Luya and Chachapoyas, in the south of the department of Amazonas- is one of the most representative of the Chachapoyas culture with more than 1500 years of antiquity.
To access this destination, the first thing is to reach Chachapoyas. There are direct flights from Lima, lasting one hour and 45 minutes. Already here and after visualizing the hummingbird, take a tour of the Kuelap Fortress and be dazzled by the buildings of the ancient Peruvians.
The Data
The hummingbird is the smallest animal in the world with a backbone.
Picture taken from Difusión