The Story
I made this photo of a Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) at the Recinto del Pensamiento in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. The Sparkling Violetear lives in a wide range of semi-open habitats, even gardens and parks in cities like Quito, and is often the most common hummingbird in its range. Its range runs along the Andes from Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia into northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. The Recinto del Pensamiento is a 179-hectare nature reserve of Andean cloud forest above 2,000 meters, at Km 11 on the road from Manizales to the Magdalena. IUCN lists the Sparkling Violetear 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 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. The reserve belongs to the Comité Departamental de Cafeteros de Caldas and is run by the Corporación para el Desarrollo de Caldas to promote nature tourism in Manizales.
©2020 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