The Story
I photographed this Brown Violetear (Colibri delphinae) in El Caraño, in the hills above Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2020. It feeds on nectar from small flowers of trees, shrubs and epiphytes, and it catches insects in flight as an essential source of protein. Females look like males but have a smaller throat patch. It feeds high in the rainforest canopy but comes lower at edges and clearings. Its nest is saddled on a twig 1 to 3 meters up in a bush. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. El Caraño holds the main intake for Florencia’s drinking water, and the Salto del Río Caraño is one of its best-known natural attractions.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Brown Violetear (Colibri delphinae) 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