Bulletin 393 - Colombia 2021 #10 - Hummingbirds - Pt 2

  I finally made it back to Colombia for my second visit and again used the guide services of Pablo Florez. I went with my friend Martin Jackson. We visited Inirida on the Orinoco, Santa Marta of course, Guajira Peninsula on the Caribbean coast, and a couple of National Parks around Bogota.

There are over 160 species of hummingbirds in Colombia! We saw many species with some rare and endemic ones.

The 4.25" male Blue-throated Starfrontlet (Coeligena helianthea) is a 'fancy one' to quote our guide Pablo. He has a pink belly and blue rump.

Blue-throated Starfrontlet - male

The female is duller with a spotted breast and belly. She has on orange throat.

Blue-throated Starfrontlet - female

Their cousin, the 4.5" White-tailed Starfrontlet (Coeligena phalerata) is endemic to the the Santa Marta mountains. He is green with a conspicuous white tail - an easy ID in that range.

White-tailed Starfrontlet

Woodstars are tiny hummingbirds. The 2.25" male Santa Marta Woodstar (Chaetocercus astreans) is the only woodstar in the Santa Marta range. They sit on top of the trees, so difficult to get a good photo. But he is a green hummer with a red throat and forked tail.

Santa Marta Woodstar - male

The female is buffy below with a square tail.

Santa Marta Woodstar - female

The 2.75" female White-bellied Woodstar (Chaetocercus mulsant) is green backed, mostly white below and rusaty flanks. The male has a purple throat.

White-bellied Woodstar - female

The 3.5" Brown Violetear (Colibri delphinae) is dull brown with the characteristic purple cheek feathers. The sexes are similar.

Brown Violetear

His cousin the 4.75" Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) is a stunning bird as all his feathers truly sparkle. The sexes are similar. I always enjoy seeing this hummer.

Sparkling Violetear

The 3" male Tyrial Metaltail (Metallura tyrianthina) is green with a bluish throat and reddish tail. 

Tyrial Metaltail - male

The female is paler with an orange throat. However, this is the Santa Marta subspecies (districta).It is a likely split.

Tyrial Metaltail - female Santa Marta ssp

The 3.5" male Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica)  has a green throat and chest and blue crown, belly and back. A real stunner!.

Crowned Woodnymph - male

The 4.5" male Lazuline Sabrewing (Campylopterus fulcatus) is a green hummer with a blue throat. He has a curved bill.

Lazuline Sabrewing - male

Lastly was a treat - the 3" male Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird (Chyrsolampis mosquitus). This bird has a red head and nape of neck along with  an orange throat. This was a lifer for me.

Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird - male

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

I have photos of 136 of the 359 species of hummingbirds.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2021 David McDonald

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

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.

Bulletin 247 - Ecuador #9 - More Hummingbirds

There are 131 species of hummingbirds in Ecuador and I saw 34 of them on this trip in basically just 3 locations. Some were the same species I had seen previously, but many were new species and lifers. I showcased a number of them in Ecuador #1.  Here are the rest.

Among the more unusual hummers are the 2 species of sicklebills. They have unique almost semicircular bills. They feed on heliconia flowers and cling to the flower while feeding. They do not come to feeders and thus are harder to find. I missed this one in both Costa Rica and Panama. However, as we were getting ready to leave Buenaventura Lodge, one flew into the dining room and I was able to get photos before he was caught and released. The 4.75" White-tipped Sicklebill (Eutoxeres aquila) has a streaked breast and white on the tips of the tail feathers.

White-tipped Sicklebill

The 4.5" Green Hermit (Phaethornis guy) is unusual for hermits as most are brown. This one came to the feeder at Copalinga Lodge. Most hermits have long white central tail feathers that allows ID as to genus.

Green Hermit

The Violet-headed Hummingbird (Klais guimeti) is an old friend as I had seen it in Panama and got great photos in Costa Rica. The male has a purple head, but the ID mark is the white spot behind the eye. This one was feeding at a flower and appeared to turn and look at me.

Violet-headed Hummingbird - male

The 4" male Fork-tailed Woodnymph (Thalurania furcata) is green with a purple belly.

Fork-tailed Woodnymph - male

An similar colored species is the male 3" Violet-bellied Hummingbird (Damophila julie). 

Violet-bellied Hummingbird - male

The 3.25" Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) came to the feeder at Tapichalaca Lodge. It is a monotypic genus.

Speckled Hummingbird

Brilliants are large hummers that the guide book describes as 'readily coming to feeders' and most male are 'exceptionally attractive'. The 4.5" male Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula) occurs on the west slope and was photographed at Buenaventura Lodge.
He is all green with a purple throat patch.

Green-crowned Brilliant - male

The 4.5" male Violet-fronted Brilliant (Heliodoxa leadbeateri) occurs an the east slope and has a purple forehead. The juvenile male shown here has a blue forehead, bronze face and lacks the solid green underparts.

Violet-fronted Brilliant - juvenile male

The next 3 species are all residents of the cloud forest on the east slope and were photographed at Tapichalaca Lodge. The 4" male Chestnut-breasted Coronet (Boissonneaua matthewsii) is green with a bright rufous breast and belly.

Chestnut-breasted Coronet - male

The 4.25" Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata) is dark green with a white chest and long bill.

Collared Inca

The 7.25" male Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) is green with a blue crown and long turquoise tail.

Long-tailed Sylph - male

The last 2 birds are called woodstars. They are tiny bee-like hummers. They usually have white flank patches. The 2.5" female White-bellied Woodstar (Chaetocercus mulsant) has a white throat and central white belly with rufous sides. The white flank patch is clearly seen on this bird with her tongue protruding.

White-bellied Woodstar - female

The 2.5" female Purple-collared Woodstar (Myrtis fanny) is green with mostly rufous underparts.

Purple-collared Woodstar - female

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

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