The Story
I photographed this female White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) at La Minga Ecolodge, in the Kilometer 18 cloud forest near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. She perched quietly, shown in side profile. Her muted emerald and teal tones are layered with soft gray scaling across the chest, a subtle look that can be overlooked beside the dark blue and white males. Her long, gently curved bill and long wings show in clean side profile in the soft, diffused cloud-forest light. The species feeds on nectar at the flowers of tall trees, epiphytes, shrubs and Heliconia plants. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/750 sec, f/11, ISO 6400, −1 EV. La Minga sits in the cloud forest of the Kilometer 18 area, about an hour from Cali.
©2026 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) 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