The Story
I photographed this Purple-throated Woodstar (Philodice mitchellii) at La Florida, El Bosque de las Aves, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. In Colombia it breeds at higher elevations and moves lower outside the breeding season. It builds a tiny cup nest of fine fibers and spider silk on a thick branch of a tall tree, often 8 to 12 meters up. Both sexes show a white patch on each side of the rump. It feeds high in flowering trees such as Cordia and Inga, and males defend feeding territories. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −0.3 EV. It is considered uncommon to locally common, and it seems to depend on native trees for nectar.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Purple-throated Woodstar (Philodice mitchellii) 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 2022), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List