Gilded Hummingbird

The gilded sapphire is 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 4 to 5 g (0.14 to 0.18 oz). Both sexes have a medium length, straight, coral red bill with a black tip. Adult males are mostly iridescent golden-green, with a pale rufous chin and a glittering golden-bronze tail. Adult females are almost the same, but duller overall and with a grayish lower belly. Juveniles are like the adult female with buff fringes on the feathers of the head.

The gilded sapphire is found in northeastern to south central Bolivia, essentially all of Paraguay and Uruguay, central and southeastern Brazil, and northern Argentina. It inhabits open landscapes such as savannah with scattered trees, the edges and clearings of forests, plantations, and gardens. It is most numerous at elevations between 400 and 800 m (1,300 and 2,600 ft). It is regularly found down to 200 m (660 ft) and up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft), and locally even higher.

The gilded sapphire forages for nectar at a wide variety of native and introduced plants, shrubs, and trees. It seeks nectar at all levels of its habitat. In addition to nectar the species feeds on insects caught by hawking from a perch and also gleans spiders from webs.