The Story
I photographed this Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) at La Florida, El Bosque de las Aves, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. It is the only member of its genus and lives in Andean cloud forest, mostly between 1,000 and 2,500 meters. It has a black cheek patch below the eye with a white stripe above it. It is a solitary hummingbird that does not form flocks or pair bonds. It is a very common hummingbird of moderate elevations. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18 is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) 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
