Brown Violetear

[Pitter]

I've had a feeder up for several months and have an established crowd that visits regularly but yesterday a Brown Violetear showed up for the first time. It's "ear" is more showy in person than what's illustrated in the Colombia guide.

[Lilbirdz]

Hi Pitter, might you have a pic to share? Sounds like a neat little bird!

Ooh, it is neat! Just Googled it, here's a nice pic of one in this page... http://www.rarebird.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=373&get=last

Have you ever seen a Heliothrix barroti - Purple-crowned Fairy? That's my favorite. One of these days I need to plan a trip down to visit them in Columbia. ~Nate.http://home.comcast.net/~phampton246210mi/Nate/hellobye.gif

[Pitter]

Yes Nate I hope I can get some picks before he leaves. Colombia IS birdland.

[crickieheather]

I just got back from San Diego. I live in Georgia, so it was a big change. The biggest differnce was the numbers of hummingbirds around. I see one or two on occasion here, but I saw about 8 a day there! Most of them were Anna's (a species we don't get in Georgia), but I saw a black chinned there as well. One day I'll get into Costa Rica or Columbia. :)

[cfagyal]

You can get Purple-crowned Fairy's in Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador as well :) I've got them in both Costa Rica and Ecuador. Also Brown Violetears all through there (have them in both Costa Rica and Ecuador too). Both places much safer than Colombia is...a place i'd love to go birding, but would not step foot in at this time.

[YoungBirder]

I used to live near the mexican border in Arizona and it was like hummer heaven, I got to see 12 different species of hummingbirds and I saw them all alot more than once!

[Rasmus Boegh]

You can get Purple-crowned Fairy's in Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador as well :) I've got them in both Costa Rica and Ecuador. Also Brown Violetears all through there (have them in both Costa Rica and Ecuador too). Both places much safer than Colombia is...a place i'd love to go birding, but would not step foot in at this time.

Many regions of Colombia are at least as safe as Ecuador. A growing number of foreign birders have started visiting Colombia. Indeed, I am thinking seriously about a visit to Colombia, I would love to visit the Central Valley or Santa Marta...

True, the Purple-crowned Fairy is astonishing - (almost) comparable to the Sword-billed, the Sylphs or one of the Topaz's. Sadly, the Purple-crowned Fairy doesn't seem to be too pleased about the action around a feeder. It is also a lowland specialist, meaning that it generally occur below the altitude of Brown Violet-ear. Pitter, congrat's with the nice sighting of the low-density Brown Violet-ear...

[Pitter]

Well here's picture I took this morning.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/Pitter/Hummers/flight.jpg

[crickieheather]

Great shot! I wish I got more than just the normal Ruby Throats around my house! Congrats on such a clear and large photo!