Red-billed streamertail

The red-billed streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), also known as

the doctor bird, scissor-tail or scissors tail hummingbird, is Red-billed streamertail
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 (including the
American Ornithologists' Union) continue to consider it conspecific
with the black-billed streamertail. The red-billed streamertail is the
national bird of Jamaica.[2]

When the black-billed streamertail of eastern Jamaica (found mostly

in the parish of Portland) is considered a separate species, the red- Adult male, Jamaica
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.[3]

These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable

tongue or catch small insects on the wing. The next-to-outermost
rectrices of the male are 15–18 centimetres (6–7 in) long, far longer
than its bearer's body. Females lack the elongated rectrices, and are
largely white below. Adult males in flight produce a distinctive
whirring flight sound. The whirring is synchronised with the Female, Jamaica
wingbeats and video footage shows primary feather eight (P8)
Conservation status
bending with each downstroke, creating a gap that produces the
fluttering sound.[4] Bird sound other than via vocal organs is
referred to as sonation.

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Contents Scientific classification

Taxonomy Kingdom: Animalia

Description Phylum: Chordata
In culture Class: Aves
References Order: Apodiformes
External links
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Trochilus
Taxonomy Species: T. polytmus

The red-billed streamertail was formally described by the Swedish Binomial name
naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Trochilus polytmus
Naturae under the binomial name Trochilus polytmus.[5] Linnaeus Linnaeus, 1758
quoted the description in Latin by the Irish physician Patrick
Browne in his The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica which had been published two years earlier in
1756.[6] The specific epithet polytmus is from the Ancient Greek polutimos meaning "costly" or "valuable".[7]
The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[8]

Description
The adult male measures 4.5 inches (11.5 cm) without the 'streamers'. With the streamers, it measures 10
inches (25 cm). The crown and tail are black. The feathers at the nape of the neck form tufts. The body is a
bright iridescent green. The bill is red with a black tip. The 'black-billed' streamertail is identical in every
respect except for the colour of the bill, but is a slightly smaller bird. The female's crown, neck and back are
pale green. The lores are pale brown, the wings dark brown, and the tail black with outer feathers tipped with
white. The underparts are white. The bill has a dark brown upper mandible and pinkish-brown lower
mandible.[9]

In culture
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."

juvenile male juvenile male juvenile male adult

feeding feeding male
feeding

female in flight

References
1. BirdLife International (2012). "Trochilus polytmus" (https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/2268746
9/0). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. "National Symbols of Jamaica" (http://www.jis.gov.jm/special_sections/This%20Is%20Jamaica/
symbols.html). jis.gov.jm. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
3. Frank B. Gill; F. J. Stokes & C. Stokes (1973). "Contact zones and hybridization in the
Jamaican hummingbird, Trochilus polytmus (L.)" (http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/
condor/v075n02/p0170-p0176.pdf) (PDF). The Condor. 75 (2): 170–176. doi:10.2307/1365864
(https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1365864). JSTOR 1365864 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1365864).
 4. Clark CJ (2008). "Fluttering wing feathers produce the flight sounds of male streamertail
hummingbirds" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2610162). Biol Lett. 4 (4): 341–
4. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0252 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsbl.2008.0252). PMC 2610162 (http
s://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2610162). PMID 18505711 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/18505711).
5. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines,
genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (https://www.biodiversitylibrar
y.org/page/727025) (in Latin). Volume 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii.
p. 120.
6. Browne, Patrick (1756). The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (https://www.biodiversitylibrar
y.org/page/11267996). London: Printed for the author, and sold by T. Osborne and J. Shipton.
p. 475.
7. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher
Helm. p. 314. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
8. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Hummingbirds" (http://
www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/hummingbirds/). IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International
Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
9. Bernal, Frank (1989). Birds of Jamaica. Jamaica: Heinemann Publishers (Caribbean) Ltd.
p. 52.

External links
Media related to Trochilus polytmus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Trochilus polytmus at Wikispecies

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