\u2022 The average sword-billed hummingbird is 4-5 inches long, plus the bill, which can be anywhere from 2\/3 the body length up, sometimes longer than the body itself!
\n\u2022 To match the long bill, these hummers have a long tongue to retrieve nectar from flowers and feeders.
\n\u2022 Everything about this bird is big. At 10-15 grams, it is one of the larger species of hummingbirds.<\/p>\n

Taking a Stab at Filling a Niche<\/h2>\n

With a bill that prevents the bird from grooming itself conventionally (sword-billed hummingbirds use their feet), it is questionable how such a seemingly hindering trait evolved. This mystery is solved by looking at their eating habits.<\/p>\n

Sword-billeds feed from long, deep flowers where the nectar is too far for traditional bills to reach. Thus, a giant bill was grown, and an already beautiful bird gained a distinctive silhouette. Often, these flowers hang downward, so that the hummingbirds hover beneath them and lap up nectar from below.<\/p>\n