The Story
I photographed this White-eared Hummingbird (Basilinna leucotis) at Villa Verde, a community dedicated to conservation at the gateway to Celaque National Park near Gracias, Lempira, Honduras. It held still in the sunlight, showing its green plumage. It lives from the southwestern United States to Nicaragua, between about 1,200 and 3,500 meters, and the birds in Honduras belong to the subspecies pygmaea. It sometimes slips in low to feed in the territories of much larger hummingbirds. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −1 EV. Celaque protects Cerro Las Minas, at 2,849 meters the highest point in Honduras, and its rivers supply water to more than 120 communities, including Gracias.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-eared Hummingbird (Basilinna leucotis) 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 2022), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
