The Story
I photographed this Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei) at the Forest of Orchids, a private reserve in the vereda Chincé near Tabio and Tenjo, Cundinamarca, Colombia. It lives only in the Eastern Andes of Colombia, between Boyacá and the Bogotá metropolitan area, from about 1,400 to 3,200 meters, in humid montane forest and its edges. It feeds by trap-lining, visiting a regular circuit of flowering plants. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. The female’s forehead is plain green and her upperparts are like the male’s but duller.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/6.7, ISO 12800. The reserve sits at about 2,700 meters, keeps an orchid collection and a hummingbird garden, and is listed as a green business by the regional environmental authority, CAR.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei) 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 2023), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List