The Story
I made this photo of a Green-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia nuna) at the Observatorio de Colibríes in La Calera, near Bogotá, Colombia. The Green-tailed Trainbearer has been recorded taking nectar from flowers such as Castilleja, Cavendishia, Rubus and Cuphea. It also eats insects caught on the wing or gleaned from flowers. Its cup nest of moss and rootlets is usually tucked beneath an overhang on a slope. 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 Green-tailed Trainbearer as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Visits are limited to groups of 20 and to Tuesday through Saturday, because, as the founder says, the hummingbirds also need a rest from people.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia nuna) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List
