The Story
This Andean Emerald (Uranomitra franciae) perched calmly on a slender branch at La Minga Ecolodge in Dapa, near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, against a soft green background. Natural light brought out the emerald greens on its head and back and the texture of its white chest and violet crown. Normally this hummingbird is in constant motion. Males have a glittering violet-blue crown and golden-green to emerald cheeks, and females have a less glittering, turquoise-blue to greenish crown. Its cup nest is built of tree-fern scales and plant fibers bound with spiderweb and covered outside with lichen. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/3000 sec, f/11, ISO 3200, −1.5 EV. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18, where La Minga sits, is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Andean Emerald (Uranomitra franciae) 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