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Giant Hummingbird
The Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas) is the largest member of the hummingbird family, weighing 18-20 g (6/10 - 7/10 of an ounce). It measures eight and a half inches in length (~23cm), which is about the length of a European Starling or a Gray Catbird. It is the only member of the genus Patagona.
The Giant Hummingbird is found between 2,000 and 3,800 m.a.s.l. in the Andes of South America, from northern Ecuador to central Chile and Argentina.
In Bolivia, the Giant Hummingbird is known in Quechua as "burro q'enti". The Spanish word "burro" refers to its dull, relatively unattractive plumage compared to other locally occurring hummingbirds (e.g. Red-tailed Comet).
References
Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
Fjeldsa, Jon, and Niels Krabbe. 1990. Birds of the High Andes. Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 876 pp.
External links
Giant Hummingbird videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- photographs of this and other hummingbird species
Giant Hummingbird photo gallery VIREO
Photo-Med Res; Article borderland-tours
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Giant Hummingbird
