They carefully observe these every day and call the long tail feathers “antennas” because these are in addition to their regular tail, and move independently. This leads me to wonder if they have evolved into separate muscles very different from tails of other hummingbirds?  Rather than believing this is to attract females, locals believe this racket tail serves as a decoy for predator birds that is similar to a lizard giving up its tail. You can’t see its wings while flying, but its racket tail feathers look exactly like two fluttering butterfly wings (like a Matador’s cape), typically over an inch across. 

In reality the Spatuletail is easy to spot, despite of its small body, because of this tail. Some believe the tail serves as a “rear propulsion system” to give them a final push up inside of the long Campanilla, trumpet like flowers that hang down over 10cm and are full of nectar.  We would like to partner with any group genuinely interested in preserving this most spectacular species.  Once identified our village tourist committee will be planting flowering plants throughout our zone that feeds them to provide a food chain. 

Our central location in the cross section of the world’s most extreme geography gives us an outstanding 18 % of the world’s bird population.