The Story
I photographed this Empress Brilliant (Heliodoxa imperatrix) at Avistamiento de Aves Doña Dora, in Dagua, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in February 2020. It lives on the Pacific slope of the Andes from Colombia’s Chocó to Ecuador, between 400 and 2,000 meters. Males are 15 to 17 centimeters long and weigh about 9.3 grams. A major source of its nectar is the flowers of Marcgravia vines, where it perches to feed. Its very wet forest habitat is still mostly intact. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1600, −1 EV. Doña Dora began feeding birds beside her restaurant in 1998, and her land is now a reserve that protects the birds, insects and flowers of the Anchicayá forest.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Empress Brilliant (Heliodoxa imperatrix) belongs to the family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
