Red-billed Streamertail

Red-billed Streamertail
male
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Genus:	Trochilus
Species:	T. polytmus
Binomial name
Trochilus polytmus Linnaeus, 1758

The Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), also known as the Doctor Bird, is indigenous to Jamaica, where it is the most abundant and widespread member of the hummingbird family. While most authorities now consider it a separate species, some (e.g. AOU) continue to consider it conspecific with the Black-billed Streamertail. The Red-billed Streamertail is the national bird of Jamaica.

When the Black-billed Streamertail of eastern Jamaica is considered a separate species, the Red-billed Streamertail occurs west of a line from Morant Bay following the Morant River, and via Ginger House and the middle Rio Grande to Port Antonio (Gill et al., 1973).

The next-to-outermost rectrices of the male are 15 to 18 cm (6-7 in) long, far longer than its bearer's body. Trailing behind the flying hummingbird like thin black streamers, these feathers make a humming sound. Females lack the elongated rectrices, and are largely white below.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue or catch small insects on the wing.

The bird is featured in Ian Fleming's James Bond short story, For Your Eyes Only. The first line of the book reads, "The most beautiful bird in Jamaica, and some say the most beautiful bird in the world, is the streamer-tail or doctor humming-bird."

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Trochilus polytmus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Gill, Frank B.; Stokes, F. J. & Stokes, C. (1973): Contact Zones and Hybridization in the Jamaican Hummingbird, Trochilus polytmus (L.). Condor 75(2): 170-176. PDF fulltext
• Raffaele, Herbert; James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith & Janis Raffaele (2003) Birds of the West Indies, Christopher Helm, London.