The grey-breasted sabrewing (''Campylopterus largipennis'') is a species of

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 found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, Brazil, Ecuador, the Guianas, Peru, and Venezuela.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, 2022Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-breasted sabrewing was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected in

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic Oc ...

, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Trochilus largipennis'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. The grey-breasted sabrewing is now placed in the genus ''Campylopterus'' that was erected by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek ''kampulos'' meaning "curved" or "bent" and ''-pteros'' meaning "-winged". The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''largipennis'' combines the Latin ''largus'' meaning "ample" and ''-pennis'' meaning "-winged". The further taxonomy of the grey-breasted sabrewing is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) assigns three subspecies, the nominate ''C. l. largipennis'' ( Boddaert, 1783); ''C. l. obscurus''

Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, a ...

, 1848; and ''C. l. aequatorialis'' Gould, 1861. 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 ...

and

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) recognize only two by including ''aequatorialis'' within ''obscurus''.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 In addition, ''C. l. obscurus'' has been suggested as a separate species.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022 What are now the outcrop sabrewing (''C. calcirupicola'') and

Diamantina sabrewing The Diamantina sabrewing (''Campylopterus diamantinensis'') is a Near-threatened species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to southeastern Brazil.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Ha ...

(''C. diamantinensis'') were formerly treated as subspecies of the grey-breasted.

Description

The grey-breasted sabrewing is a large hummingbird, long. Males weigh and females about . The sexes have almost identical plumage. Their bill is slightly decurved; the maxilla is black and the mandible pinkish with a black tip. The nominate subspecies' upperparts are dark shining green and the underparts dark gray. They have a white spot behind the eye. Their central pair of tail feathers is green and the rest bluish black on their inner half and white on the outer. Subspecies ''C. l. obscurus'' (with ''C. l. aequatorialis'') is smaller than the nominate and its outer tail feathers' ends are usually gray rather than white.Züchner, T., G. M. Kirwan, E. de Juana, and P. F. D. Boesman (2021). Gray-breasted Sabrewing (''Campylopterus largipennis''), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (H. F. Greeney, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gybsab1.01.1 retrieved August 7, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The three subspecies of grey-breasted sabrewing recognized by the IOC are distributed thus: * ''C. l. largipennis'', eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil as far west as the Rio Negro * ''C. l. obscurus'', northeastern Brazil * ''C. l. aequatorialis'', from eastern Colombia and northwestern Brazil south through eastern Ecuador and Peru into northern Bolivia The species inhabits humid

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, clearings within them, and plantations. In elevation it ranges between .

Behavior

Movement

The grey-breasted sabrewing is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The grey-breasted sabrewing forages for nectar at a variety of flowering plants, usually at low to medium heights. Males defend feeding territories. In addition to nectar, the species captures small insects by

hawking Hawking may refer to: People * Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist *Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name) Film * ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Haw ...

from a perch.

Breeding

The grey-breasted sabrewing's breeding seasons differ greatly among the parts of its large range. It makes a cup nest of moss lined with soft seed material and decorates the outside with lichen. It places it like a saddle on a horizontal branch or attaches it to hanging twigs, typically near waterfalls or running streams and within about of the ground. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

The grey-breasted sabrewing makes "repeated short ''chik'' or ''trzik''" calls and "occasionally a faster stuttering series." What is thought to be its song is the "same call note delivered in a more regular continuous series."

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 ...

has assessed the grey-breasted sabrewing as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and an estimated population of at least three million mature individuals, though the latter is believed to be decreasing. Its habitat is slowly being converted to agriculture, urbanization, and mining.

References

External links

* (with RangeMap)-for Suriname
"Gray-breasted sabrewing" photo gallery
VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q857888 Campylopterus Hummingbird species of South America Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds described in 1783 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot