Black-billed streamertail
The black-billed streamertail (Trochilus scitulus) is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is endemic to eastern Jamaica. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of Trochilus polytmus.
Hummingbirds drink nectar, a sweet liquid inside certain flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they normally reject flower types that produce nectar that is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is higher. Nectar is a mixture of glucose, fructose, and sucrose, and is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by preying on insects and spiders.
Scientific classification | |
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Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Apodiformes |
Family: | Trochilidae |
Genus: | Trochilus |
Species: | T. scitulus |
Binomial name | |
Trochilus scitulus (Brewster & Bangs, 1901) |