Gray-breasted Sabrewing

The grey-breasted sabrewing is a large hummingbird, 12.4 to 14.9 cm (4.9 to 5.9 in) long. Males weigh 9 to 10 g (0.32 to 0.35 oz) and females about 7 to 8 g (0.25 to 0.28 oz). The sexes have almost identical plumage. Their bill is slightly decurved; the maxilla is black and the mandible pinkish with a black tip. The nominate subspecies' upperparts are dark shining green and the underparts dark gray. They have a white spot behind the eye. Their central pair of tail feathers is green and the rest bluish black on their inner half and white on the outer. Subspecies C. l. obscurus (with C. l. aequatorialis) is smaller than the nominate and its outer tail feathers' ends are usually gray rather than white.

The three subspecies of grey-breasted sabrewing recognized by the IOC are distributed thus:

C. l. largipennis, eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil as far west as the Rio Negro C. l. obscurus, northeastern Brazil C. l. aequatorialis, from eastern Colombia and northwestern Brazil south through eastern Ecuador and Peru into northern Bolivia The species inhabits humid primary and secondary forest, clearings within them, and plantations. In elevation it ranges between 100 and 800 m (330 and 2,600 ft).

The grey-breasted sabrewing forages for nectar at a variety of flowering plants, usually at low to medium heights. Males defend feeding territories. In addition to nectar, the species captures small insects by hawking from a perch.