The Story
I photographed this Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) at La Minga Ecolodge in Dapa, near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It paused for a moment, its green and brown plumage blending with the soft background. It is a quiet species often overshadowed by more flamboyant hummingbirds. It has glossy green to bronze upperparts and pale underparts flecked with green and bronze, with a black cheek patch below the eye. The female builds the nest and raises the young alone. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. Its nest is a bulky cup of moss and cobweb lined with plant fiber.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/350 sec, f/11, ISO 800, −1.5 EV. La Minga sits in the cloud forest of the Kilometer 18 area, about an hour from Cali.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) 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), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List