The curve-winged sabrewing (''Pampa curvipennis'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The curve-winged sabrewing's taxonomic history is complex. It was formerly placed in genus ''

Campylopterus The sabrewings are relatively large Neotropical hummingbirds that form the genus ''Campylopterus''. They are species of the understory and edges of forests, mostly in mountains, and often near streams. The female Sabrewing lays its two white eggs ...

''. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014 found that the genus ''Campylopterus'' was polyphyletic. In the revised classification to create

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

genera, the curve-winged sabrewing was moved to the resurrected genus ''

Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

'' by some taxonomic systems.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

(HBW) retained the species in ''Campylopterus''. The relation of the curve-winged sabrewing to other species and the number and identities of its subspecies also differ among taxonomic systems. HBW is the most conservative: It treats the curve-winged sabrewing as one of three subspecies of grey-breasted sabrewing (''Campylopterus curvipennis curvipennis''). The second is ''C. c. excellens'', which some other systems treat as a subspecies of curve-winged. The third is ''C. c. pampa'', which some other systems treat as the full species wedge-tailed sabrewing (''Pampa pampa''). The

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

calls ''P. curvipennis'' the wedge-tailed sabrewing with subspecies ''P. c. curvipennis'' ("curve-winged") and ''P. c. pampa'' ("wedge-tailed"). These two systems were last updated in 2021. In mid-2022 the North American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

and the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC) adopted the name curve-winged sabrewing for ''P. curvipennis'' and merged the former long-tailed sabrewing (''P. excellens'') into it as a subspecies. They treat ''P. pampa'' as the separate species wedge-tailed sabrewing. The two-subspecies model for ''P. curvipennis'' was actually a return to the mid-twentieth century treatment of some authors.Arizmendi, M. d. C., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, C. A. Soberanes-González, and T. S. Schulenberg (2021). Wedge-tailed Sabrewing (''Pampa curvipennis''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.wetsab1.01.1 retrieved August 9, 2022 This article follows the two-subspecies IOC taxonomic model.

Description

The curve-winged sabrewing is a large hummingbird with a long, wedge-shaped tail. The

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

''P. c. curvipennis'' is long. The male's tail is about long and the female's . Adult males have a dull metallic violet blue to greenish blue crown, metallic green to bronze green upperparts, and bluish green uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

. Their tail feathers are mostly dull metallic bluish green that becomes purplish black at the ends. The outermost pair have dusky to brownish gray outer webs. Much of their face is dull grayish white to gray, with a white spot behind the eye. Their underparts are dull grayish white. Adult females are very similar to the male. However, their crown is dull blue rather than violet- to greenish blue. Their two outermost pairs of tail feathers have wide dull gray or whitish tips, and much of the outer web of the outermost pair is brownish gray. Immature birds are similar to the adult female, with a duller crown whose feathers have buff tips, a pale cinnamon wash to the underparts, and a buff wash on the outer tail feathers. Subspecies ''P. c. excellens'' is long. Males weigh an average of and females . The male's tail is about long and the female's . Both sexes have a slightly decurved black bill. Males have a bright metallic violet crown and the rest of their upperparts are deep metallic green. Much of their face is brownish gray with a white spot behind the eye. Their underparts are grayish white darkening to dull grayish undertail

. Their tail is dull metallic green with blackish violet tips to the feathers. The female's crown is duller and its tail feathers have white, not dark violet, tips.Züchner, T., P. F. D. Boesman, and H. F. Greeney (2021). Long-tailed Sabrewing (''Pampa excellens''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lotsab1.01.1 retrieved August 4, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of curve-winged sabrewing is found in southeastern Mexico from

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

south to

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

and

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

. Subspecies ''P. excellens'' is found only in a small area of southeastern Mexico around the Sierra de los Tuxtlas in the states of

, Tabasco, and

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

. (Note that the map includes the range of ''P. pampa'' in the Yucatán Peninsula). The species inhabits the interior and edges of semi-arid to humid evergreen forest. It ranges from sea level to about but is more common at the lower elevations.

Behavior

Movement

The curve-winged sabrewing is thought to be sedentary but it may make some seasonal elevational movements.

Feeding

Very little is known about the curve-winged sabrewing's foraging technique or diet. Both are assumed to be similar to those of the wedge-tailed sabrewing though it too has not been studied extensively. That species consumes nectar, as do all hummingbirds, and insects like most of them. It forages in the low to middle strata of the forest.

Breeding

As is the case for feeding, most of the curve-winged sabrewing's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

has not been detailed separately from that of the wedge-tailed. The nominate is believed to nest between March and July and ''excellens'' might breed from September to May.

Vocalization

Some of the descriptions of curve-winged sabrewing vocalizations are embedded in wedge-tailed sabrewing accounts. Some are steady, persistent chipping and a shrill, nasal ''peek''. The species usually sings from dense vegetation, and its songs are complex and variable, usually including insect-like chips, squeaks, and squeals, followed by a series of excited warbled or gurgling notes. Males sing year-round, sometimes in small groups. Some tail or wing movements are associated with perched singing displays.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

follows HBW taxonomy and so does not assess the curve-winged sabrewing separately from the three-subspecies ''Campylopterus curvipennis'' wedge-tailed. That wider-ranging species is considered to be of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1273659 curve-winged sabrewing Endemic birds of Eastern Mexico Birds of Mexico curve-winged sabrewing curve-winged sabrewing Birds of the Sierra Madre Oriental Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN