The Story
I photographed this juvenile female White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) at Finca Alejandría at Km 18 above Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. The White-necked Jacobin usually lives from sea level to about 900 meters. It feeds on nectar at the flowers of tall trees, epiphytes, shrubs and Heliconia. Finca Alejandría sits in cloud forest at Km 18 on the road from Cali to Buenaventura, and it is an eBird hotspot with more than 340 bird species recorded, about 40 of them hummingbirds. IUCN lists the White-necked Jacobin as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −1 EV. Raúl Nieto, who runs the finca, won second place in the 2023 Gemas environmental awards for a project that uses birding as a strategy for conservation.
©2019 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