Fawn-breasted Brilliant (Heliodoxa rubinoides) - 10Aug2024

This is a fairly widespread hummingbird in the Andes across several countries.  We had our best looks at Ukuku Lodge which is where I photographed these.

Rufous-gaped Hillstar (Urochroa bougueri) - 15Aug2024

I came very close to missing this species altogether.  It was being seen around the feeders at the Montezuma Rainforest Lodge but for some weird reason I kept missing it.  I finally picked it up just before dark on the last day.  Hence the overexposed shot.

White-booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) - 13Aug2024

I should have played around with my settings to get better depth of field which is necessary for this species because the end of the tail is usually far away from the bird's eye.  Luckily I got a few profile shots that allowed everything to be mostly in focus.  However, this species is difficult to photograph because they move around a lot and usually don't perch near other hummingbirds.  We saw these at Montezuma Lodge and Ukuku Lodge.

 

Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini) - 14Aug2024

We saw all our Velvet-purple Coronets at Montezuma Rainforest Lodge in the central cordillera.  I even had one visiting the feeder right outside my lodge room.  

Buff-tailed Coronet (Boissonneaua flaviscens) - 10&18Aug2024

After getting great photo ops of these at Ukuku Lodge, I didn't think we would improve on the pics but I did get even better opportunities at Rio Blanco Lodge where I managed to get a frozen underwing shot.  

Great Sapphirewing (Pterophanes cyanopterus) - 06Aug2024

During our trip to Reserva Bosque Guajira in the eastern cordillera of Colombia, I was a little overwhelmed with the number of species of hummingbird that I thought I had missed this one. However, after going through pictures I found that I did in fact see and photograph them. We also saw a few at a distance later in the trip away from feeders.

Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) - 06Aug2024

This improbable hummingbird was seen a couple of times in different places during my second trip to Colombia.  They have a fairly large range throughout South America.  One thing that is immediately surprising is their size.  They are one of the largest hummingbirds.

Mountain Velvetbreast (Lafresnaya lafresnayi) - 06Aug2024

These are one of the few hummers we saw during my second trip to Colombia that have a curved bill.  We saw them at Reserva Bosque Guajira in the eastern cordillera.

Blue-throated Starfrontlet (Coeligena hellanthea) - 06Aug2024

We saw these hummers at the beginning of my second trip to Colombia at the Reserva Bosque Guajira in the eastern cordillera.  

Buff-winged Starfrontlet (Coeligena lutetiae) - 19Aug2024

We had plenty of these beauties at Hacienda El Bosque which is a working cattle farm near Manizales.  

Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata) - 14Aug2024

These huge hummers dominate the feeders in the high elevations where they are found including the feeders half way up the Montezuma Road where we saw these and all the way at the top where the military base was. Depending on the light, they can look almost black or green.

Brown Inca (Coeligena wilsoni) - 14Aug2024

This is another species that we had very good photo ops of during our trip to Montezuma Rainforest Lodge.  The palm fronds next to the feeder were perfect for perches.

Bronzy Inca (Coeligena coeligena) - 10Aug2024

This is a wide ranging hummer but we only saw it in a few locations, one of which was Ukuku Forest Lodge.  This was a favorite location of mine during my second trip to Colombia offering plenty of cool moss and lichen covered perches.

Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis cupripennis) - 16Aug2024

These hummers of the high elevation Andes are much bigger than I thought they would be.  We saw most of ours in the sub-paramo or paramo habitat around Hotel Termales Del Ruiz.

Golden-breasted Puffleg (Eriocnemis mosquera) - 16Aug2024

Our most cooperative puffleg species on my second trip to Colombia was the Golden-breasted Puffleg at Hotel Termales Del Ruiz.  Maybe we just got lucky, but it perched next to some feeders in perfect light.

Coppery-bellied Puffleg (Eriocnemis cupreoventris) - 08Aug2024

This near endemic Colombian hummer does cross over slightly into Venezuela.  We saw them at Chingaza National Park high up on Chingaza Rd.  Its always nice to see a bird in its natural habitat away from any feeders.  You can only just barely make out the coppery belly on this one.

Black-thighed Puffleg (Eriocnemis derbyi) - 17Aug2024

This high elevation speciality likes scrubby ravine habitat from 8k to 10k feet up in the Andes.  The area surrounding the Hotel Termales Del Ruiz was perfect for this, but we only saw one that I was aware of.  I still owe it a proper photo shoot, but managed a couple quick frames.

Glowing Puffleg (Eriocnemis vestita) - 06Aug2024

We saw this species at Reserva Bosque Guajira on my second trip to Colombia.  Apparently they can be seen in all three of the central cordilleras in Colombia, but we only saw them in one or two places.  So like many of these species, it is important to get the time you can with them while you have it.  The first two were females and the last a male.

Greenish Puffleg (Haplophaedia aureliae) - 13Aug2024

Greenish Pufflegs are yet another high elevation species of hummer found in the Andes Mountains.  Although the distribution is restricted to a very thin area in the horizontal, they are found all the way from Peru up to Panama.  We saw these at the Apia Birding Ecolodge.

Viridian Metaltail (Metallura williami) - 17Aug2024

We had cracking good looks at this hummer at the Hotel Termales Del Ruiz on the slope down from of Los Nevados National Park in the central cordillera.

Green-bearded Helmetcrest (Oxypogon guerinii) - 07Aug2024

Much like the Buffy Helmetcrest, this species is part of a complex of 4 hummers that previously were lumped in the Bearded Helmetcrest species.  We saw a couple during our visit to Sumapaz National Park but they didn't perch for us.  However, we were able to track one female down to a nest on an overhang over the road.  I will be back preferably on my own so I can take my time and photograph this species as it should be.

 

Buffy Helmetcrest (Oxypogon stuebelii) - 17Aug2024

I didn't do this gorgeous bird justice so I will be back...  This was photographed at Los Nevados National Park.  Buffy Helmetcrests are not only a Colombian endemic, they occupy a very restricted range within Colombia.  They basically only live on Nevado Del Ruiz, an active volcano in the central cordillera.  If you catch them in good light, they have a thin glittering blue and green gorget.

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill (Chalcostigma herrani) - 17Aug2024

This is another hummingbird species that I found on my second trip to Colombia that I totally failed to get good pics of.  Many of these thornbills and helmetcrests only visit flowers and not feeders, making them difficult to photograph.  This one below was photographed only when I split from the main group and did some exploring on my own outside the Hotel Termales Del Ruiz.  Unfortunately the bird did not face me and so I couldn't see the amazing rainbow "beard".  As I was photographing it the tour leader called me back and I had to leave it uncrushed.

Bronze-tailed Thornbill (Chalcostigma heteropogon) - 07Aug2024

This thornbill only just crosses into a very small sliver of Venezuela so it is a near endemic to Colombia.  We had ours in the Paramo habitat of the eastern cordillera while visiting Sumapaz National Park.  I hope to return to this spot in the future to get better photos.

The bronze tail was only visible when it perched down low.

Purple-backed Thornbill (Ramphomicron microrhynchum) - 16Aug2024

We had a couple of these tiny gems at the Hotel Termales Del Ruiz in Colombia.  

The first one was a female and it took me a while to ID it.

The male was more obvious but only when the light hit it just right.