The Story
I photographed this Blue-headed Sapphire (Chrysuronia grayi) at Finca La Conchita, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. It lives in inter-Andean valleys from Colombia’s Valle del Cauca south into Ecuador, and it is also called Gray’s hummingbird. Several may gather at a flowering treetop, where they are notably aggressive. It also catches insects in flight or picks them from leaves. Males have a deep glittering blue face and crown and a coral-red bill with a black tip. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, −0.7 EV. 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.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue-headed Sapphire (Chrysuronia grayi) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List
