A glittering species of bird that is rendered unmistakable because of his shimmering emerald green chest and impressively long outer tail feathers!
Meet the Red-billed Streamertail
PhotoFile:Red-billed Streamertail male Jamaica 03.jpg” by Kaldari is marked with CC0 1.0.o Courtesy of Instagram/ignacio_yufera
The red-billed streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), also known as the doctor bird, scissor-tail or scissorstail hummingbird. The male member of this species has iridescent emerald-green body plumage which is slightly darker on the back. His flight feathers on the sides are dark brown to black. His tail is forked with long second outermost streamers. Extremely long they are only second in length to the streamers of the black-billed streamertail. While perched somewhere his streamers are crossed. His head is black with elongated lateral crown feathers and ear coverts extended beyond the nape of his neck.
“Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus)” by sussexbirder is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The female has a white throat, chest, and belly with green upperparts along with green spots on the sides of her breast. Her tail has green central rectrices, while her others are dark blue with broad white tips.
Lacking the streamers of the male, she has a red bill. Juvenile males are similar to adult males lacking the streamers.
Photo Courtesy of Charles J. Sharp / CC BY-SA 4.0
The Red-billed Streamertail is endemic to and found in, all parts of Jamaica except the extreme east.
“File:Red-billed streamertail (Trochilus polytmus) female.jpg” by Charles J Sharp is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
This species of hummingbird visits a variety of habitats, especially along the edges of montane forests. It also visits man-made habitats such as plantations, gardens, and parks. A common species right up to 1,000 meters, it is also common along the coastline.
“File:Red-billed streamertail (Trochilus poltmus) juvenile male.jpg” by Charles J Sharp is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
A favorite food, and indeed mainstay of Red-billed Streamertail is nectar taken from a wide variety of brightly colored, scented, small flowers on trees, herbs, shrubs, and epiphytes. Looking for nectar with high sugar content, they use their long, extendible, straw-like tongues to retrieve the nectar, while hovering with their tails cocked upward. They can lick at the nectar up to 13 times per second. However, they will also dine on insects if given a chance.
“Red-billed Streamertail – Jamaica 94 0008” by fveronesi1 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
During the breeding season, the female is responsible for building a tiny cup-shaped nest out of plant fibers on a low skinny branch 1 to 3 meters above the ground. The nest is lined with soft material, strengthened with spider web. She lays a clutch of up to two white eggs which she incubates for about 17–19 days. She then goes on to feed the chicks once they are hatched and leave the nest at around 19-24 days old, taken care of by the female for another three to four weeks. The male has nothing further to do with the breeding process after mating.
“File:Red-billed Streamertail male Jamaica 02.jpg” by Kaldari is marked with CC0 1.0.
Though having a restricted range, the Red-billed Streamertail is widespread throughout much of Jamaica and therefore evaluated as of Least Concern on the IUCN list.
“File:Red-billed Streamertail male RWD5.jpg” by DickDaniels (http://carolinabirds.org/) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Watch this bird right here in the video below:
