sparkling violetear

And this is my last picture I'll upload from my travels in Peru. But because I've lagged so far behind I still have my big 2017 trip to go, so there's more to come.

This shows nicely how this group received its name. Another species present in fairly good numbers at Wild Sumaco.

I no longer have enough photos to dedicate one set of three to single species any longer, but I can promise that I still have some photos worth uploading. Two different Violetears on the menu for today then. You can just about see the `sparkling blue' on the bird's belly, but I found it quite...

This is one of my favourite pictures from these sessions. This picture reminds me of a comic book type illustration exaggerating movement - but the photo serves as proof that the flight action of these birds can be crazy! Typically one would get pictures like this if the bird decided to suddenly...

Here we have more of a side-on view which shows that if the light has just the right angle then there's a lot of blue iridescence.

Yesterday we had the Lesser Violetear, and today we're going to look at its reasonably similar cousin. This photo nicely illustrates three of the differences: The blue in the tail, the blue on the belly, and the fact that the violet `ears' expand to cover the whole throat area.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans subsp. coruscans) Sexes similar. Huembo, Amazonas, Per. Tropical humid montane forest (cloud forest) at 2,092 m (6,864 ft) elevation, eastern-slope of the Andes.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans subsp. coruscans) Sexes similar. Wildsumaco Lodge, Napo Province, Ecuador. Rain forest, subtropical elevational zone at ca. 1,400 m (4,593 ft) elevation. Foothills of the eastern-slope of the Andes overlooking Ro Pocono Valley.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans subsp. coruscans) Sexes similar. Puembo Valley, Pinchincha Province, Ecuador. Disturbed Andean Montane Scrub at ca. 2,500 m (8,200 ft) elevation.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans subsp. coruscans) Sexes similar. Nectaring Porterweed (Stachytarpheta sp.: Verbenaceae). Cabaas Copalinga, south of Zamora, Zamora-Chinchipa Province, Ecuador. Landscaped lodge grounds mixed in with submontane rainforest at 920 m (3,018 ft) elevation above...

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans subsp. coruscans) Sexes similar. Photographed at Ecoans Huembo Center, Amazonas Department, Peru. Eastern slope of the Ro Utcubamba Valley at ca. 2,050 m (6,726 ft) elevation. Mesic cloud forest, forest edge of a small canyon.

Taken 29Oct2009 at Tandayapa Lodge at ~5600 ft asl in subtropical montane forest on west slope of the Andes in northern Ecuador.

This was the only hummer I was able to photograph in Ecuador when we visited the equator site.

Last of these for today ...

As common as it is beautiful!

Very common hummingbird in the gardens of Quito.

Foto taken at 3050 meter high in the Andes

A bit of a thug this species - earned itself the nickname of "violent-ear" around the feeders!