The Story
I photographed this Fawn-breasted Brilliant (Heliodoxa rubinoides) at Finca La Conchita, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. It strongly defends good nectar sources, chasing off other hummingbirds, bumblebees and hawk moths. It also catches small insects in flight and plucks them from spider webs. Males court females by flying in U-shaped patterns in front of them, and the female raises the young alone. It has warm buffy-cinnamon underparts and a small, isolated pinkish-lilac patch on the lower throat. 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 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. 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 Fawn-breasted Brilliant (Heliodoxa rubinoides) 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