A Green Backed Firecrown (Sephanoides sephanoides), the smallest bird ever recorded in the Falklands, arrived in the Islands on 13th May 2001. It was found in a boatyard near Stanley harbour, just behind Falklands Conservation office. This very tiny hummingbird (only 4" long) is a wind-blown vagrant which has a widespread distribution on the South American continent ranging from Tierra Del Fuego to northern Chile - it migrates to the warmer lower latitudes in winter.

There have been at least four previous records of this bird arriving in the Falklands. One was eaten by a cat at Government House, Stanley in 1952 and a female caught in the Government House greenhouse in 1963 died the following day - it weighed 4.25 gms, after surviving a journey of about 450 miles without food.

Hummingbirds are a New World family of 320 mostly very small birds, with specialised tongues and slender, usually long bills that feed on nectar from flowers. This latest arrival was persuaded to take some drops of sugary water from the end of a cotton bud before being released. Sadly it is not likely to survive very long in the Falklands winter, though there are still a few flowers in sheltered gardens.

 
This latest arrival is a male identified from its glittering red crown - Photo: Alan Henry

Thanks to Mark Collier, who found the hummingbird, and to Falklands Conservation members Alan Henry, Mike and Sue Morrison, and Dennis Middleton for their identification, information about and care for the bird, and to Robin Woods for additional details taken from his Guide to Birds of the Falkland Islands.

Falkland Birds