The Story
I photographed this White-vented Plumeleteer (Chalybura buffonii) at Líbano, Tolima, Colombia. The male has a bluish green throat and belly and a blue breast. Its nest is a cup of plant down bound with spiderweb, with moss and lichen on the outside. It seems able to tolerate some habitat disturbance. It mostly forages by trap-lining, visiting a circuit of flowers, but it also defends rich patches aggressively. In 2019 Cortolima counted 778 bird species for Tolima on eBird, 14th among Colombia’s departments. Coffee is the center of Líbano’s economy and culture.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the White-vented Plumeleteer as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-vented Plumeleteer (Chalybura buffonii) 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 decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List