Bulletin 406 - Colombia 2022 #3 - Hummingbirds Part 2

 I was planning to go to Peru in 2022 but there were riots and road closures in the areas we were planning to go. So at the last minute I went back to Colombia and saw some other places. 

Unfortunately, there was a lot of overlap, so I did not get a lot of new birds on the trip. However, many areas now have set up feeding stations and several were built for photography. I used the same guide Pablo Florez and I had my daughter with me on the trip this year.

However on the bright side, the setups for photography and the number of places that had feeders allowed me to get many improved photos of birds I had not so good photos before.

The 3.25" male Tolima Blossomcrown (Anthrocephala berlepschi) is a green hummer with a white and red cap. This was a split from the Santa Marta Blossomcrown. Both are endemic to Columbia.

Tolima Blossomcrown

The 4.75" Buff-winged Starfrontlet (Coeligena lutetei) is a large dark green hummer with a beige wing patch - an easy ID.

Buff-winged Starfrontlet

Hermits are a group of hummers that are almost all brown bodied with a curved bill and white facial stripes and long white central tail feathers. The 5" Pale-bellied Hermit (Phaethornis anthophilus) is a typical hermit. Only with a guide would the ID be known.

Pale-bellied Hermit

The 4.25" Green Hermit (Phaethornis guy), of course, is an exception. This hermit I can ID myself, as I have seen it many times now.

Green Hermit

Woodstars are among the smallest hummers. The 2.25" male Gorgeted Woodstar (Chaetocercus heliodor) is a tiny green hummer with red gorget and white breast. It is one of the smallest birds in the world.

Gorgeted Woodstar - male

The female has a buffy breast like most woodstars.

Gorgeted Woodstar - female

The second woodstar of the trip was the 2.75" Purple-throated Woodstar (Calliphlox mitchellii). This is, of course, a female as no purple throat.

Purple-throated Woodstar - female

The 4.5" Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis cupripennis)is a uniformly coppery-colored hummingbird. 

Shining Sunbeam

The last hummer was a definitely a top 5 highlight of the trip. This was my 3rd time to see this bird. I photographed on on the trip to Colombia last year but it was in a distant tree. This time the bird was coming to flowers in the garden of the lodge. The 3" male Ruby-topaz Hummingbird (Chrysolampis mosquitus) is just beautiful. I could sit and watch him for hours.

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird -male

Here is another photo.

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird - male

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 147 of the 360 species of hummingbirds.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 278 - Colombia #1 - Hummingbirds

Oh Colombia..the second most ecologically diverse country on earth and the most diverse per square mile.  In a country the size of Texas + California, it is estimated to contain 10% of all species on earth. It is #1 in birds with 1900+ species. It has 10% of mammals, 14% of amphibians and 18% of birds. It is #1 in orchids, It has more than 2,000 species of marine fish and is second in freshwater fish. It has more endemic species of all types than any other country.

With the dismantling of the cocaine cartels and elimination of many of the rebel groups, Colombia is open for tourism again. Birders started going back to Colombia about 8 years ago and increasing numbers are taking the opportunity to see birds that can be found nowhere else.

I went with a guide Pablo Florez and his company. I found him on birdingpal. Although he was busy, he booked 2 partners (Johnnier Arango, and  José Castaño) and they were excellent guides. We did a tour of the central Andes starting in the Medellin area, the second largest city and once infamous as the home of Pablo Escobar....head of the Medellin cartel.

Pablo Florez has cowriiten a book where to bird in Colombia. In it, he has a list of the Top 30 Most Sought-after Birds by a group of 40 birders visiting Colombia. I saw 12 of them on the trip and got photos of 10. When I show one of these birds,  I will mention its placement on the list.

So we will begin with everyone's favorite - hummingbirds. Some of these were seen previously in the Ecuador series. However, I got better photos of many of them on this trip.

The pufflegs are hummingbirds of high mountain forests. We saw 2 on the trip. The 3" male Black-thighed Puffleg (Enocnemis derbyi) is green with charcoal puffy feathers on legs that can be seen in this photo.

Black-thighed Puffleg - male

The female has a spotted breast and white leg puffs

Black-thighed Puffleg - female

The 4.75" Golden-breasted Puffleg (Enocnemis mosquera) is green with a golden chest and white leg puffs. The sexes are similar.

Golden-breasted Puffleg

The 3.25" Steely-vented Hummingbird (Amazilia saucerrottei) is green with bluish wings and tail. The bill is reddish which is typical of this genus.

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Hermits are generally brown hummingbirds and many have central elongated white tail feathers. They usually have curved bills and most species do not visit feeders, so you have to catch them at a flower. I got a photo of the 5" Tawny-bellied Hermit (Phaethornis syrmatophorus).

Tawny-bellied Hermit

The 3" Wedge-billed Hummingbird (Schistes geoffroyi) is green with white on throat and a short dagger like bill that  he can uses to pierce to base of the flower and 'steal' nectar.

Wedge-billed Hummingbird

However, here is another photo showing the bird at the base of the flower.

Wedge-billed Hummingbird

The 4.5" Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis cupripennis) is unique in its overall cinnamon color. The sexes are similar.

Shining Sunbeam

The 3.75" Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys)  is green with buffy underparts and green spots along flanks. It has a vertical white strip behind the eye. The sexes are similar.

Speckled Hummingbird

The 3.5" male Viridian Metaltail (Metallura williami) is all green with a blue tail

Viridian Metaltail - male

The female has a greenish tail.

Viridian Metaltail - female

Lastly is the amazing 5" Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera). The bill is 4" long. and makes the ID of this hummer. I had a chance to watch one come repeatedly to a feeder and finally he perched on a stick beside the feeder. This is the male with green underparts. The female would have spotted underparts.

Sword-billed Hummingird - male

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 271 - Ecuador 2016 #5 - Hummingbirds

These are the places visited. At the end of each bird description, I will give the 2 letter code where the photo was taken.

Shiripuno Lodge in Amazon  (SH)
Archidona a town on the east slope  (AR)
San Isidro Lodge at a higher elevation on east slope (SI)
Antisana reserve on the paramo    (AN)
Yanacocha reserve   (YA)
Mindo area on west slope has several close reserves that we visited (MI)

Hummingbirds are one of my favorites and are the most amazing birds with their ability to hover and fly backwards and upside down. I photographed about 2 dozen new species on the trip. The rarest of the hummers on the trip was the 7.5" male Fiery Topaz (Topaza pyra). The range map just shows a few dots in the Amazon region where one might find it. However, at Shiripuno lodge, a pair roosts on a branch over the water at night and you can go about 100 yards from the lodge by boat and just wait until they fly in at 5:30. Amazing. The unique tail with crisscrossed extended feather is the ID mark.  SH

Fiery Topaz - male

Several others had interesting tails as well. The 9" male Black-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia victoriae) is green with 2 long tail feathers.   AN

Black-tailed Trainbearer - male

The 7" male Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) is green with 2 long shimmering blue tail feathers.  SI

Long-tailed Sylph - male

His cousin, the 7" male Violet-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus coelestis) has a purple tail.  MI

Violet-tailed Sylph - male

The cute 4.5" male Booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) looks like he has white fur boots on along with the racket tail.   MI

Booted Racket-tail - male

Pufflegs are hummers that have boots like the racket-tail above. The 4.5"  Sapphire-vented Puffleg (Eriocnemis luciani) is green with blue under the tail and white leg puffs.   YA

Sapphire-vented Puffleg

The 4.5" Golden-breasted Puffleg (Eriocnemis mosquera) has gold breast, green body and white leg puffs.   YA

Golden-breasted Puffleg

I like the name of this next one. The 4.5" Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis cupripennis) is a rich coppery brown.    YA

Shining Sunbeam

The 4.75" Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) is green with a blue belly and violet on the sides of the face.     AN

Sparkling Violetear

The 4.5" White-tailed Hillstar (Urochroa bouqueri) is green with a blue throat, bronze rump and white tail underneath.   AR

White-tailed Hillstar

I have updated my hummingbird family photo 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

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.