In my brief time at El Silencio Lodge this trip (last month) I managed to photograph two of their several mountain hummingbirds either in the rain or in-between rains: The Lesser Violetear, Colibri Cyanotus (linked to eBird) and the Purple-throated Mountain-Gem, Lampornis [castaneoventris] calolaemus (also linked to eBird). And you can see some of my other shots of both of these species in my galleries:
- Lesser Violetear GALLERY – Found in both Central & South American mountains
- Purple-throated Mountain-Gem GALLERY -Only in Central American mountains
Now find below three shots of each species. Note that the male & female of the Violetear are identical thus not identified while the male & female of the Purple-throated are different and I did get shots of both in the latter! Plus I have here one shot of each species flying/hovering/eating! 🙂
As always, you can CLICK an image to see larger & full-frame.
Lesser Violetear
Purple-throated Mountain-Gem
See all my El Silencio 2023 Trip Photos.
¡Pura Vida!
Both on Porterweed?
Yes Steve. Porterweed is by far the most popular plant for all hummingbirds and butterflies just about everywhere I have gone in Costa Rica. It is in the Verbena family and thus in English is sometimes called Verbena, while my gardener here in Atenas calls it “rabo de toro” (oxtail) and I read somewhere that some people call it “rats tail” also. The type of beak a hummingbird has determines the type of flower a hummingbird eats from. In my Costa Rica Birds GALLERY: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/BIRDS/Costa-Rica-Birds-by-Species
my photos of 36 species of hummingbirds are mostly on Porterweed/Verbena but if you go through the species galleries they are also occasionally on such different flowers as Bottlebrush & Heliconias! 🙂
Too beautiful for words!!!
Thank you!!!
xoxo
Thanks Gordona! And that describes most hummingbirds (not many ugly ones!). 🙂 Check out all my Hummingbird galleries sometime for a huge variety of this category of birds. And Costa Rica has more species than almost any other country with 53 species! But Ecuador is #1 with 132 species! I have photos of 36 of the 53 species here in Costa Rica. Some birders still call Costa Rica the “Hummingbird Capital” because it is easier to travel here than in Ecuador. 🙂
Thanks Charlie!!!
xoxo