The Story
I photographed this female Green-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia nuna) at La Florida, El Bosque de las Aves, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in February 2020. It lives in the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia, between 1,700 and 3,800 meters. The male’s tail alone can be 10.6 to 13.6 centimeters long, while the female has white underparts spotted with green and a shorter tail. Besides nectar, it catches insects in flight. It builds a cup nest of moss and rootlets, usually under an overhang on a slope. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. 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.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green-tailed Trainbearer (Lesbia nuna) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List