The Amazing Horned Sungem

This beautiful remarkable hummingbird is mostly found in South America well worthy of such an evocative name and only the males have the iridescent horns. The horned Sungem or Heliactin bilophus is the only species, of the genus Heliactin. The experts name bilophus is sometimes considered a nomen oblitum, which, if accepted results in Heliactin cornutus being the correct name for this species. A wing-beat is one complete up and down movement that means the horned Sungem moves its wing muscles at a rate of more than 10,000 TPM (Times Per Minute). 

It selects fairly dry open or semi open habitats, like savanna and Cerrado. This bird normally avoids dense humid forest. The Horned Sungem population trend appears to be growing, and hence the species does not reach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion and for some reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as “uncommon”. 

The females are mainly green above with clean white under-parts, and long central rectrices, however males birds are spectacularly adorned with a dark blue crown, black throat and upper breast, and little red, blue and gold “horns”, as well as also possessing elongated central tail feathers. In terms of its spreading, the species is found really locally north of the Amazon, in southern Suriname, as well as in the savannas of Amapa, in far northeast Brazil, therefore much more incessantly across the Brazilian interior to eastern Bolivia. 

It favors native Cerrado vegetation and is found to at least 1000 m in elevation. Like numerous hummingbirds, the Horned Sungem appears to make local movements, at least in parts of its range, in response to flowering events, though somewhere else the species populations are seemingly more sedentary.