Southern Giant Hummingbird

Patagona gigas (Vieillot, 1824)

Southern Giant Hummingbird, Patagona gigas, breeds in central and southern Chile and western central Argentina, then moves north to the central Peruvian Andes. It is a hummingbird of the Andes and is the second largest in its family. The species was once treated as part of the giant hummingbird, but genomic work supports its separation from the northern giant hummingbird. Two subspecies are recognised, with one found from Ecuador to south-eastern Peru and the other from northern Bolivia and Chile to Argentina. It is the main pollinator of Oreocereus celsianus.

Order

Apodiformes

Family

Trochilidae — Hummingbirds

Breeding range

South America: breeds c, s Chile and wc Argentina; migrates northward to central Peruvian Andes