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 4.3" female Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei) is a stuuning bird. The male has a solid green throat. This is an endemic bird with the January 2023 split of the Venezuela subspecies into a full species.
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| Golden-bellied Starfrontlet - female |
The 3" male Purple-backed Thornbill (Ramphomocron microrhynchum) has a prurple back and head with green underparts.
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| Purple-backed Thornbill |
The 3.5" Indigo-capped Hummingbird (Saucerottia cyanifrons) is another endemic to Colombia. The male here is bright green with a blue crown.
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| Indigo-capped Hummingbird - male |
The 4.3" male Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis) has a black throat and chest outlined in blue. The rest of the bird is green but the tail is purple.
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| Black-throated Mango - male |
The 3.5" male Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica) had a bright purple belly and a green throat. Unlike the Golden-bellied Starfrontlet above that was recently split into 2 species, this bird had 2 species - Green-crowned and Violet-crowned Woodnymphs - but they were lumped into just Crowned Woodnymph.
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| Crowned Woodnymph - male |
The 3.5" male Tourmaline Sunangel (Heliangelus exortis) is a green hummer with a pink throat.
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| Tourmaline Sunangel - male |
The 3" female Tyrian Metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina) is a green hummer with a rusty orange throat. This subspecies have purple tails. The subspecies in the Santa Marta mountains which I photographed last year have blue tails. This is a possible future split.
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| Tyrian Metaltail - female |
Lastly is everyone's favorite, the Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera). The ID is easy.
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| Sword-billed Hummingbird |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald
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