The Story
I photographed this Green Thorntail (Discosura conversii) at Avistamiento de Aves Doña Dora, in Dagua, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in February 2020. It is found from Costa Rica to Ecuador, on the Pacific slope in Colombia. Males are about 10 centimeters long and females about 7. Its common name comes from the deeply forked tail with very narrow outer feathers. It also eats small arthropods, catching them in flight or picking them from under leaves. Breeding males perch on high bare twigs and sometimes make diving displays. 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 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, −1 EV. Doña Dora began feeding birds beside her restaurant in 1998, and her land is now a reserve that protects the birds, insects and flowers of the Anchicayá forest.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green Thorntail (Discosura conversii) 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 2018), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List