The Story
This female Blue-chested Hummingbird (Polyerata amabilis) perched on a broad leaf near Capurganá, in Chocó, Colombia, her green back catching the light. The species is found from Nicaragua to Colombia and Ecuador, and it also lives in degraded former forest. It feeds by trap-lining, visiting a regular circuit of flowers, and defends feeding territories where nectar is scarce, taking small insects from foliage as well as nectar.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/250 sec, f/16, ISO 3200. Capurganá can be reached only by boat or small plane, and it has no cars, which keeps the village and its forest edges quiet for birds like this one.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue-chested Hummingbird (Polyerata amabilis) 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