The Story
I photographed this Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) at the Observatorio de Colibríes in La Calera, near Bogotá, Colombia. The Sparkling Violetear’s range runs along the Andes from Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia into northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. Its nest is a cup of soft plant material decorated with lichens on the outside. Incubation takes 17 to 18 days. It lives in a wide range of semi-open habitats, even gardens and parks in cities like Quito, and is often the most common hummingbird in its range. The Observatorio de Colibríes sits at about 3,000 meters in high Andean forest, in the vereda Frailejonal of La Calera, near Bogotá. IUCN lists the Sparkling Violetear 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 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. Victoria Lizarralde and her family began the observatory in 2005, and they plant native flowers, keep the feeders fresh and host school visits to promote conservation.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) 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). Source: IUCN Red List
