Which bird has the longest beak relative to body size?

The sword-billed hummingbird has the longest beak relative to body size of any bird.

Its bill can measure roughly 8–12 centimeters, while the bird’s body is only about 13–14 centimeters long when the bill is excluded. It is the only known bird whose bill is longer than the rest of its body, excluding the tail. The bill is also the largest relative to body length among birds.

This extraordinary shape is an adaptation for feeding on flowers with very long corollas, especially the passionflower Passiflora mixta. The hummingbird and the plant show a striking example of coevolution: the flower’s structure rewards a bird capable of reaching nectar that many other pollinators cannot access.

The bill creates practical challenges. Unlike most hummingbirds, the sword-billed hummingbird often uses its feet to scratch and preen because its bill is too long for convenient grooming. It lives in the Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, usually in humid montane habitats and páramo.