The Story
I photographed this Andean Emerald (Uranomitra franciae) at Finca La Conchita, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. Males have a glittering violet-blue crown, and the nominate subspecies lives in the Andes of northwestern and central Colombia. It lives in secondary forest and the edges and clearings of wet forest, mostly above 1,000 meters. It feeds by trap-lining but gives way to territorial hummingbirds at flower patches. It builds a cup nest of tree-fern scales and plant fibers bound with spider silk and covered in lichen. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/500 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 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