The Story
I photographed this Steely-vented Hummingbird (Saucerottia saucerottei) in the Cincinati area above Minca, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia, at about 1,540 meters. It lives in Colombia and Venezuela, and in northern Colombia its range runs from Sucre east to the Venezuelan border. Immature birds are duller than adults, with a partly gray throat and grayish brown belly. Not much is known yet about its diet. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. Adult males have greenish to steel-blue undertail coverts.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/750 sec, f/6.7, ISO 1600, −0.5 EV. These mountains rise from the Caribbean coast to 5,700 meters, apart from the Andes, and they are the source of 36 rivers.
©2021 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
