Bulletin 276 - Ecuador #10 - more Hummingbirds

This was a remarkable trip with 23 new species of hummingbirds photographed. So here are another 9.

The largest hummingbird is the 6.5" Giant Hummingbird. I saw it, but didn't get a photo before the bird flew away. The second largest hummer is the beautiful 6" Great Sapphirewing (Pterophanes cyanopterus). The male has blue wings and we saw several of them.

Great Sapphirewing - male

Another bird I love is the Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata). I had seen this bird on my previous Ecuador trip, but it is always a delight to see them. They are dark green appearing black with a white chest and white in the tail. I spent considerable time at San Isidro Lodge to get one hovering.

Collared Inca

His cousin is the rather drab Bronzy Inca (Coeligena coeligena).

Bronzy Inca

The male Purple-bibbed Whitetip (Urosticte benjamini) is all green with a small purple throat patch and white tips to the tail feathers.

Purple-bibbed Whitetip - male

Woodstars are small hummers 2.5 to 3.5 inches long. The male Purple-throated Woodstar (Calliphlox mitchelli) is green with a purple gorget. Most woodstars have white on the rump as well which helps in their ID.

Purple-throated Woodstar - male

The male White-bellied Woodstar (Chaetocercus mulsant) is green with a pink gorget and is mostly white underneath. Also just a glimpse of the white rump is visible.

White-bellied Woodstar - male

The male Tourmaline Sunangel (Heliangelus exortis) is all green with a small pink gorget. This on was sitting on a large flower stalk.

Tourmaline Sunangel - male

The last 2 species are probably the most spectacular of the trip. The 5" Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is a target bird for all birders in South America. It has an amazing 4" bill and ehrn it comes to a feeder, the body seems so far away from the feeder.

Sword-billed Hummingbird

The 4" male Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini) is glittering purple in good light. I took many photos before getting this one. In poor light the bird just looks black. This is the guides (Pablo Andrade) favorite hummer in Ecuador out of 130 species.

Velvet-purple Coronet - male

I have updated my hummingbird family photos and now have 111 species of the 348. You can browse them all at this link.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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