The Story
This is a Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) that I photographed at the Recinto del Pensamiento in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia on June 22, 2017. It is a hummingbird of the highlands of northern and western South America, including much of the Andes. It lives in many semi-open habitats, even gardens and parks in large cities, and is often the most common hummingbird in its range. It has long violet-blue ear plumes that it can raise, and a green tail with a steel-blue band near the tip. The Recinto del Pensamiento grew out of the Colonia Escolar La Enea, a farm school started around 1935 for children orphaned by a landslide.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Sparkling Violetear as Least Concern, and most of the Recinto del Pensamiento’s 179 hectares are a protected and productive nature reserve.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) 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 2024). Source: IUCN Red List