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White-tipped Sicklebill | Eutoxeres aquila
Haaksnavelkolibrie | Pico de hoz puntiblanco
The White-tipped Sicklebill has the most strongly curved bill of all hummingbirds in the guide area, an arc of almost a quarter circle. It fits exactly into the curved flowers of certain heliconias and of Centropogon. Unlike most hummingbirds it often clings to the inflorescence with its feet while feeding instead of hovering in front of it. It lives hidden in the understorey of the foothill forest of Costa Rica and Panama.
Voice
Mostly silent. The call is a high, thin tseep, often in flight. The song is a soft series of high, thin notes.
Recording: Olaf Jahn — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
12–13 cm, with a thick, strongly decurved bill of about 3 cm. The upperparts are dark bronze-green. The underparts are densely streaked blackish and white to buff. The fairly short, wedge-shaped tail is green with broad white tips, visible when hovering and flying off. The sexes are almost alike; the female has a slightly shorter bill.
Confusion species
Unmistakable given the hooked bill. Hermits such as Green Hermit Phaethornis guy and Long-billed Hermit Phaethornis longirostris have a longer, evenly curved bill, unstreaked underparts and elongated central tail feathers. Band-tailed Barbthroat Threnetes ruckeri has a slightly curved bill, a dark throat and a cinnamon breast band.
Habitat
Understorey and edges of humid foothill forest and the lower parts of montane rainforest, especially in ravines and along streams with heliconias, roughly from 300 to 1500 m; locally lower. It flies a fixed route past scattered flowers with a curved corolla, mainly of heliconias and Centropogon, and also takes small arthropods, including from spider webs. The nest hangs from the tip of an overhanging leaf, often of a heliconia or palm.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In Costa Rica in the foothills of the Caribbean slope, in the Cordillera de Talamanca and in the south of the Pacific slope. In Panama on both sides in the foothills of Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas east to Coclé, the Cerro Azul area and the mountains of Darién. Scarce and seldom seen everywhere. Outside the guide area in Colombia, western Ecuador and along the eastern Andean slopes to northern Peru.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Best at flowering heliconias with pendent or curved flowers in the foothills of the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, and at lodges with such heliconias in the garden. The bird appears briefly, clings to the inflorescence and is gone; waiting patiently at a plant where it has been seen before gives the best chance.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Widespread in South America, but in the guide area tied to foothill forest with a rich understorey, which is cleared locally.
Scientific name
Eutoxeres aquila | (Bourcier, 1847)
Bourcier described the species in 1847 as Trochilus Aquila; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Eutoxeres was introduced in 1849 by Reichenbach. Eutoxeres is Greek, from eu 'fine, good' and toxērēs 'furnished with a bow' (toxon 'bow'), after the strongly curved bill. aquila is Latin for 'eagle', after the strongly hooked, decurved bill. The specimen the first description was based on came from vicinity of Bogotá, Colombia.