biology

Santa Marta sabrewing

Santa Marta sabrewing is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Santa Marta sabrewing rather than just read about it. In short: The Santa Marta sabrewing (Campylopterus phainopeplus) is a Critically Endangered species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the Guatapurí dry enclave on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, department of Cesar, northern Colombia.

Key takeaways

Santa Marta sabrewing belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Santa Marta sabrewing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Santa Marta sabrewing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Santa Marta sabrewing (Campylopterus phainopeplus) is a Critically Endangered species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the Guatapurí dry enclave on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, department of Cesar, northern Colombia. It is one of 24 bird species that are endemic to the Santa Marta highlands.

Taxonomy and systematics Campylopterus phainopeplus has at times been placed in genus Saepiopterus. It is monotypic.

Description The Santa Marta sabrewing is about 13 cm (5.1 in) long. Both sexes have a decurved black bill, with the female's having more curvature, and both have a white spot behind the eye. Males' upperparts are glittering emerald green. They have a black face; their throat and breast are iridescent blue and the rest of their underparts dark green. Their tail is dark steely blue. The female has shining green upperparts and mostly grayish white underparts with green flanks and undertail coverts. Its tail is mostly green with grayish tips on the outermost pair of feathers.

Distribution and habitat The Santa Marta sabrewing is known only from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, in the highlands of the Guatapurí basin, west of Valledupar in northern Colombia. Because it is far from Santa Marta, and it is endemic to the most important basin in department of Cesar, a proposal to change its English standard name to Guatapurí sabrewing is being discussed. It inhabits the edges of humid forest, plantations (especially of bananas), and bushy páramo. In elevation it ranges from 1,200 to 2,400 m (3,900 to 7,900 ft).

Behavior

Movement The Santa Marta sabrewing spends the dry season of February to May below 1,800 m (5,900 ft) and moves higher, even as far as the snow line, during the June to October wet season. However, it is likely not as migratory as previously suspected.

Feeding Almost nothing is known about the Santa Marta sabrewing's feeding strategy or diet. It has been documented feeding on flowering banana (Musa), Calliandra trees, Erythrina trees, and Malvaviscus flowers, specifically Malvaviscus concinnus. Is it also territorial.

Breeding Santa Marta sabrewings in breeding condition have been found between April and June, and males have been seen displaying in June and July. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding phenology and its nest has not been described.

Vocalization As of mid-2022 only one recording of the Santa Marta sabrewing is known. It makes "a plaintive double 'twit-twit', both in flight and display."

Status

The IUCN originally assessed the Santa Marta sabrewing as Near Threatened, then in 2000 as Endangered, and since 2020 as Critically Endangered. It has a very small range and is thought to number fewer than 50 mature individuals. About 85% of the original vegetation within its range has been destroyed by logging and conversion to agriculture, grazing, and human habitation. What remains is degraded and fragmented. Further losses are expected due to human activity and climate change. The latter is causing the dry season to expand which increases the risk of fire. Some details of habitat loss were published in 2016. Until about 1900 the Santa Marta Sabrewing was described as fairly common, and it was recorded intermittently until 1946. It was not recorded again until 2010 and was then again "lost" until 2022, when its survival was confirmed by photographic evidence of an individual male, found by chance.

References

External links BirdLife Species Factsheet. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/science/13obbird.html?ref=science

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Santa Marta sabrewing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Santa Marta sabrewing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Santa Marta sabrewing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Santa Marta sabrewing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Santa Marta sabrewing

In research: Santa Marta sabrewing appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Santa Marta sabrewing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Santa Marta sabrewing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1879, Birds of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Campylopterus, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Santa Marta sabrewing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Santa Marta sabrewing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Santa Marta sabrewing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Santa Marta sabrewing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Santa Marta sabrewing in simple terms?

Why does Santa Marta sabrewing matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Santa Marta sabrewing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Santa Marta sabrewing.