

Profile

In flight
Hummingbirds
Crimson Topaz
Topaza pella
- epic
- 56 km/h
- Least Concern
One of the largest hummingbirds. Blazing crimson body with crossed tail streamers of bronze-green and chestnut.
- Population
- Unknown/unquantified global population; described as uncommon to locally common, with an estimated decreasing trend (~5-9% decline over the past decade, driven by forest loss)
- Habitat
- Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest and foothill forest, gallery/riparian woodland along waterways, and granite inselbergs (especially in Suriname); sea level to roughly 500-600 m elevation
- Fun fact
- Male Crimson Topaz hummingbirds are among the largest hummingbirds in the world (arguably second only to the Giant Hummingbird) and perform courtship displays with distinctive crossed, elongated tail streamers.
- Range
- Northern South America: eastern Venezuela (eastern Bolívar), Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil (Roraima, Pará, Amazonas, south to Rondônia); resident (non-migratory) across an extent of occurrence of ~2,980,000 km²
- Diet
- Nectar from flowering canopy trees, vines, and epiphytes, taken while patrolling sunlit forest canopy; supplemented with small flying insects caught in flight
- Size
- 0.22 m











