White-tailed Sabrewing Campylopterus ensipennis

Sightings
White-tailed Sabrewing Campylopterus ensipennis is an uncommon resident on the island of Tobago. It can be found in Tobago’s Forest Reserve and was spotted on the Trace Gilpin Trail. This adult male bird was perched on a bare branch very close to the main trail where it remained for some time allowing the whole party to get excellent views and take photographs. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve of 3,958 hectares was proclaimed in 1776 when it was realised that deforestation was seriously impacting the island’s supplies of fresh water. It is thought to be the oldest protected reserve in the western hemisphere (and possibly on earth? / jc).

Species
This species is featured on Tobago’s environmental posters under the nickname “Campy”. The bird is about is 12 cm long of which 2.5 cm is the length of the black slightly downcurved bill. It weighs 10 grams. The underparts of the male bird are green and the female white and dotted. Both male and female birds have a white undertail which shows at rest.

Status and Distribution
White-tailed Sabrewing Campylopterus ensipennis is endemic to the island of Tobago and a small sub-montane area of Venezuela but is not found on Trinidad. Tobago is probably the easiest place to see this species therefore. It was thought to have become extinct on Tobago after hurricane Flora in 1963, but the population has now largely recovered. It is classified as near threatened with a range of 13,400 square kilometres.

References
Wikipedia; BirdLife; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 162.

Photograph
Taken in dark forest conditions at 1/100th second, f5.6 and ISO 5000.