Hummingbirds in the cloud forest

I'm currently editing lots of video footage from our March Bonaire/Ecuador/Galapagos trip and I'm thinking of making a short video of just the hummingbirds from the gardens of Septimo paraiso lodge in Mindo. I think I'll use "flight of the bumblebee" as the soundtrack eh?

Anyway, anyone with a soul, or indeed just an interest in nature must spend at least one day of their life watching hummingbirds in a tropical garden. Without wanting to sound like a "big girls blouse"...it is MAGICAL!!! Irridesence and glittering colour whirr past your face as you dump your binoculars for the camera. Even their descriptive names dont do justice to their striking brilliance...... "Sunangels" ,"woodnymphs" and "trainbearers" .
It's taken me quite some time to ID and list the hummers I saw in Mindo, but the whole point is that listing is irrelevant in comparison to the experience itself. To a European (like me), it is probably even more awe-inspiring, as hummers only inhabit the Americas. It is almost like a different hobby from birding or nature-study in general.

Heres a typical still pic taken from my video footage. A bit nicer than my UK birdfeeders, these outlandish machines are filled (twice daily, such is the demand) with sugar and water.

On the right is my favourite hummer......
the Velvet Purple coronet (Boissonneaua jardini)















as usual, click on the photos to enlarge

and again















and once more from the SLR















My (non-birding) partner, Jill, even got in on the action in the "Septimo Paraiso" ("seventh heaven" in Spanish) gardens. Here she is shooting with the SLR while I try to shoot video.




















Another favourite of mine was the tiny Purple throated woodstar (Calliphlox mitchellii), it should be as it shares my surname! It was definately the smallest, there were plenty of insects bigger than it. Really looked like and sounded like a bumble bee.






























This is the 2nd most fancy hummer, the Violet tailed sylph (Aglaiocercus coelestis) with possible Empress Brilliant (Heliodoxa imperatrix). These 2 spectacular hummers were often duelling. We were'nt sure at the time but, by freezing the video frames , the swallow-tail and golden belly suggest that it is the Empress Brilliant. I got some help with the ID from Birdforum.















After consulting with the experts at Birdforum, the pic below turned out to be a Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula), very similar to the Empress Brilliant.
















The Booted racket tailed (Ocreatus underwoodii) is a little cutie with his fancy tail streamers and puffed-up leg-warmers.















One very aggressive and territorial hummer we observed was the...
Brown Violet-ear (Colibri delphinae)
















The Purple-bibbed whitetip (Urosticte benjamini) was fairly numerous and can be IDed by the strange white feathers that stick up noticably at the end of its tail.






























The Rufous tailed hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) was the most common species seen and is easily IDed by its rufous tail and red bill.















White necked Jacobin(Florisuga mellivora)















White whiskered hermit (Phaethornis yaruqui)















Brown Inca (Coeligena wilsoni)















Speckled hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys)















Andean emerald






























So that looks like 14 species of Hummer just from one location. There was probably many more that I didnt manage to video, or just failed to ID, especially the females.

White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora)
Brown Violet-ear (Colibri delphinae)
Andean Emerald (Amazilia franciae)
Brown Inca (Coeligena wilsoni)
Purple-throated Woodstar (Calliphlox mitchellii)
Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini)
Purple-bibbed Whitetip (Urosticte benjamini)
Violet-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus coelestis)
Booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii)
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl)
Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys)
White whiskered Hermit (Phaethornis yaruqui)
Empress Brilliant (Heliodoxa imperatrix)
Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula)

The only other hummers I've seen in my life are this unIDed one on Sugar loaf mountain, Rio...















.....this Black Jacobin (Florisuga fuscus) in Tijuca forest near Rio......













....and this Western emerald nesting on our balcony in Bonaire....















....but I'm still writing the Bonaire trip report, so hopefully I'll get that posted next.....stay tuned!

...and feel free to comment (below this post) if I've got any IDs wrong or if you have any questions.