Patagona

These are very big hummingbirds.

They live high in the mountains. They eat sweet food from flowers. This food gives them energy to fly. They can even glide in the air.

They have long wings and long bills. These birds make a loud whistling sound. They also eat small bugs for strength. A mother bird builds a small nest. She lays two eggs in the summer. These birds are amazing to see!

The giant hummingbird is a very large bird.

It belongs to the genus Patagona. This group has two species. One stays in one place. The other travels to new areas. These birds have very long wings. They can even glide through the air. This is rare for hummingbirds.

They make a loud, sharp whistling sound.

These birds live high in the mountains. The air is thin there. This makes it hard to fly. They need a lot of food to stay strong. They eat nectar from flowers. They also eat insects for protein.

Sometimes, they eat sand or ash. This helps them get calcium. Calcium is needed to make eggs.

A female bird builds a small nest. She usually lays two eggs in the summer. The nest is often near water. It sits on a branch. These birds are very big for their kind. They are much heavier than the tiny bee hummingbird.

The giant hummingbird is a truly remarkable bird. It belongs to the group called Patagona. This group includes two different species. One species stays in one place all year. The other species travels to new areas.

These birds are much larger than most other hummingbirds. They have very long wings. These wings can reach almost to their tail tips. Because of this, they can glide through the air. This is a very rare behavior for hummingbirds.

These birds have a very busy way of working. Their hearts beat very fast to keep them going. When they are resting, their hearts beat 300 times per minute. When they fly, the rate can reach 1020 beats per minute. They also flap their wings at a slow rate. They average about 15 wing beats every second. This is slower than most other hummingbirds. This slow flapping helps them stay in the air. They use their large wings to glide efficiently.

People have studied these birds for a long time. A French scientist named Louis Pierre Vieillot first described them. He did this work in 1824. At first, he thought they were from Brazil. Later, a scientist named Carl Eduard Hellmayr found they were from Chile. He named Valparaíso as the place where they live.

Another scientist named George Robert Gray named the genus in 1840. These names help us organize what we know about them.

There are many interesting facts about their bodies. The giant hummingbird is much heavier than the tiny bee hummingbird. In fact, it is ten times heavier.

They live in high places where the air is thin. This thin air makes it hard to fly. Because of this, they need a lot of energy. They need about 4.3 calories of food energy every hour. This high need for food is a big job for them. They must find enough nectar to stay strong.

Finding food is a key part of their life. They mostly eat nectar from flowers. They also eat insects to get protein.

Some flowers, like the Puya, help the birds. The birds help the flowers by moving pollen. This is a helpful partnership for both. Females also eat things like sand or wood ash. This gives them calcium for making eggs. This is just like how we need minerals to stay healthy.

The genus Patagona contains some of the most impressive birds in the hummingbird family. This group includes two distinct species: the sedentary giant hummingbird and the migratory giant hummingbird. These birds are the largest and second-largest species within the hummingbird lineage. They are unique because they sit near the physical limits of what a hummingbird can be. Their large size and high energy needs must work in harmony with the thin air of high altitudes.

Physically, the giant hummingbird is easy to recognize due to its specific anatomy. They possess a straight bill that is longer than their head and a moderately forked tail. Their wings are exceptionally long, nearly reaching their tail tips when folded against the body. They also have large, sturdy feet and tarsi that are feathered all the way to the toes. While they are much larger than the tiny bee hummingbird, they remain quite light. This lightness is due to a slender build and a long bill that makes the body a small proportion of their total length.

The flight mechanics of the Patagona genus differ from smaller hummingbirds. Most hummingbirds flap their wings very rapidly, but the giant hummingbird averages only 15 wing beats per second. This is a relatively slow rate for such a bird. However, their elongated wings allow them to perform a behavior that is very rare among hummingbirds: gliding. This gliding helps them move more efficiently through the air. To maintain this activity, their physiology must work at an incredible pace. Their resting heart rate is 300 beats per minute, but it can peak at 1020 beats per minute during flight.

Because of their size, these birds have extreme metabolic requirements. They require an estimated 4.3 calories of food energy every hour just to sustain flight. This is especially difficult because they often live at high altitudes where oxygen is low and the air is thin. Thin air generates very little lift, making it harder to stay airborne. To meet their energy needs, they primarily consume nectar from various flowers. They also eat insects to gain necessary protein and minerals.

Dietary habits also include specific behaviors to maintain health. For example, female giant hummingbirds have been observed ingesting calcium sources like sand, soil, slaked lime, and wood ash. They do this after the reproductive season to replace the calcium used to produce their eggs. Nectar alone does not provide enough calcium for this process. The birds also share a symbiotic relationship with flowers of the genus Puya in Chile. In this partnership, the hummingbird acts as an efficient pollinator while receiving food in return.

Scientists have spent many years studying the history and classification of these birds. The giant hummingbird was first described and illustrated in 1824 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. Initially, Vieillot mistakenly believed the specimen had been collected in Brazil. Later, in 1945, Carl Eduard Hellmayr designated Valparaíso in Chile as the type locality. In 1840, George Robert Gray introduced the genus Patagona, originally placing only the giant hummingbird within it. Modern molecular phylogenetic studies have since revealed that the giant hummingbird has no close relatives. It is considered a sister to the large hummingbird subfamily known as Trochilinae.

Understanding the ecosystem of the Patagona is vital because they are vulnerable to changes. Many visitors, such as other birds or animals, visit flowers to eat nectar. Some of these visitors are "nectar robbers" that pierce the base of flowers to reach the nectar without pollinating them. This behavior can reduce the amount of nectar available for the giant hummingbird. If invasive or alien species are introduced that steal nectar, it could significantly impact local populations. Because these birds live so close to their metabolic limits, such changes in the environment pose a serious risk to their survival.