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

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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

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