Bird Guide

Blue-vented Hummingbird vs Giant Hummingbird

Blue-vented Hummingbird (Saucerottia hoffmanni)

Blue-vented Hummingbird

Saucerottia hoffmanni

5 gShrubland

The blue-vented hummingbird is 8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in) long and weighs an average of 4.45 g (0.16 oz). Both sexes have a straight bill with a blackish maxilla and a coral-red mandible with a dark tip. Adult males have golden-green upperparts with coppery to purplish rump and uppertail coverts. Their underparts are dark glittering golden-green with greenish to steel blue undertail coverts. Their tail is pale steel blue and slightly forked. Adult females are similar but with a duller green lower breast and belly. Voice: The blue-vented hummingbird's song is "a repeated buzzy, squeaky phrase tzi-tzee-tzup, sometimes followed by a few lower-pitched notes, tzi-tzee-tzup ... wut-chur-up." It also makes calls described as "a high, sharp tsit or dry chit, sometimes uttered in sputtering series."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Åsa Berndtsson · CC BY 2.0
Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas)

Giant Hummingbird

Patagona gigas

Small20 gShrubland

Its mass is in the range of 17–31 g (0.60–1.09 oz), making it approximately twice as heavy as the next largest hummingbird. It has a wingspan of 21.5 cm (8.5 in), with a body length of 23 cm (9.1 in). The two subspecies are visually distinguishable. P. g. peruviana is yellowish brown overall and has white on the chin and throat, where P. g. gigas is more olive green to brown and lacks white on the chin and throat.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Claude Kolwelter · CC BY 4.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Blue-vented Hummingbird and Giant Hummingbird.