Snowcap Male Flying Above Bathing Pool C-RICA SER 2 (Microchera albocoronata)

On this third trip to Costa Rica, I observed several species of hummingbirds bathing, surprise observations for me. This miniscule hummer, ~6.5 cm long, is native only to Central America. The photo and photos of other species bathing (uploaded) were taken under difficult circumstances. I stood on a platform at the heavily forested upper rim of a 15-20 m deep gorge with a small fast-flowing stream with quiet pools (where the birds bathed) at the bottom. The birds go to bathe late in the day, and it was very dark at the bottom of the gorge. I had to use a flash with a beam narrowed and intensified by a Visual Echoes beam narrower. The resultant photographic quality is poor, but I upload these photos to document a form of hummingbird behavior that is unfamiliar to most birders.