The Story
I photographed this Lesser Violetear (Colibri cyanotus) at the Reserva Natural El Palmar, near Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia, in October 2020. Also called the Mountain Violet-ear, it was once lumped with the Mexican Violetear as the Green Violetear. It lives mostly between 1,500 and 3,300 meters, in forest canopy and edges, woodland, clearings and gardens. Lone males sing from high twigs every day, a dry ‘tsu-tzeek’ about once a second, and birds often defend a feeding territory. IUCN still assesses it within the Green Violetear, Colibri thalassinus, and lists that as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. Ibagué has more than 551 recorded bird species, and a Universidad de Ibagué project worked with local reserves to set up birdwatching with trails and feeders.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Lesser Violetear (Colibri cyanotus) 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. IUCN does not yet assess the Lesser Violetear separately; this is the assessment of Green Violetear (Colibri thalassinus), which IUCN treats as including it. Source: IUCN Red List