The Story
I made this photo of a Steely-vented Hummingbird (Saucerottia saucerottei) at the Jardín Botánico del Quindío in Calarcá, Quindío, Colombia, on July 17, 2018. The Steely-vented Hummingbird forages for nectar at low bushes and trees and is thought to be somewhat territorial. It is considered fairly common to common in most of its range. In Colombia it lives on the western slope of the Western Andes and in the Cauca River valley, among other areas. The Jardín Botánico del Quindío in Calarcá is a scientific research and environmental education center, and it was the first legally constituted botanical garden in Colombia. IUCN lists the Steely-vented Hummingbird as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 160. The regional environmental agency, the CRQ, has also entrusted the garden with eight hectares of natural forest in the Barbas Bremen forest reserve, near Filandia and Circasia.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Steely-vented Hummingbird (Saucerottia saucerottei) 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 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
