You are browsing the archives of hummingbirds.

Because one good hummingbird deserves another, I’d like to brighten your day, perhaps even improve your overall quality of life by introducing one of the most resplendent hummingbirds in the world. Imagine taking a quick glimpse at your hummingbird feeder and getting a good sunlit luck at one of these… Bam! You just laid eyes [...]

When I visited the highlands of Ecuador, up above the treeline in Antisana Ecological Reserve, there were several great species of birds, any of which would be the highlight for a birder on any normal day.  But the Ecuadorian Hillstar was, for me, the best bird of a day filled with best birds.  There is [...]

Hummingbirds are just way too cool.  And Ecuador just has way too many of them.  It is almost unfair that one country should be so blessed with so many species of hummingbird.  The sheer number of hummingbirds forces a bird blogger to devote multiple blog posts just to hummingbirds encountered at hummingbird feeders, an enviable [...]

After our high-elevation adventure netted us numerous new birds we headed to lower ground, but on the east slope of the Andes Mountains, an area of Ecuador we had not yet begun to explore.  We would only have two-and-a-half days on the east slope but Renato had put together an itinerary that we hoped would [...]

A few days ago, a Rufous Hummingbird was banded at a feeder of a birder near Asbury Park, NJ. Rufous/Allen’s-type hummingbirds have become an almost annual fall visitor in NJ since the mid-’90s. NJ also has multiple records of both Black-chinned Hummingbird and Calliope Hummingbird since the mid-90s. In 2005, we were even graced with [...]

A week or so ago I was sent an email by a reader named Jimer asking if I’d like to see some photos of a Red-tailed Hawk being whalloped by a mockingbird. The photos, she said, were a little bit distant which they indeed turned out to be (good, but a little distant). She added [...]

While I’ve long been aware of the existence of at least seven heavens, their distinguishing features, like those of the fabled seven seas, have always been lost on me. Why, one might wonder, is the seventh heaven the best? I can’t answer that question for sure but I suspect birds have something to do with it. At [...]

While we’re on the subject of truly sensational hummingbirds, I’d like to introduce one of the finest specimens to be found in the Greater Antilles… Enter the Black-billed Streamertail! Of course, the bird’s stately silhouette proves the provenance of its name but only suggests its brilliant emerald raiment… The Black-billed Streamertail (Trochilus scitulus) is a Jamaican endemic, either conspecific [...]

So there I was at Refugio Paz de Las Aves, teetering on the edge of sanity after a barrage of insane Ecuadorean avifauna. First came the famed feeder birds, a parade of preposterous birds including but certainly not limited to guans, toucanets, barbets, pihas, and mountain-tanagers. Next were the star attractions, the amazing antpittas of Paz de Las [...]

At last, I believe I’ve found an ID challenge too diabolical for even the crack cadre of avian savants that tend to respond to our cruel offerings. If this turns out to be true, though, I’ll actually be disappointed because this ID may, for once, matter (as opposed to certain futile attempts to identify imaginary [...]

The Yanacocha Reserve on the west slope of the Ecuadorean Andes is a stunning site to visit, not to mention a highly productive place to watch birds. I’ve already described many of the avian attractions of Yanacocha but saved some of the best for last. How about those hummingbirds? Yanacocha deploys some of the most [...]

Jamaica is the perfect destination if you’re looking for sensational Caribbean birding. Considering the colorful nicknames bestowed upon just about every species on the island, Jamaicans truly love their birds.  And of these birds, none is more beloved than the delightful Doctor Bird. Doctor Bird is the name given to the fetching avian identified in [...]

While on the familiarity trip in Honduras I was fortunate enough to meet Fito Steiner, (photo left, copyright Robert Hyman) a conservationist and the Volunteer Director for the Honduran Emerald Reserve.  We actually met over dinner during the one night the participants of the familiarity trip stayed in Olanchito, but I was feeling rather lousy [...]

On the second day of the Mesoamerican Bird Festival we had a treat in the evening, an exhibition of hummingbird art by Honduran artist Rebecca Mendoza.  Each piece of art was of one species of hummingbird and Rebecca strategically used glitter to represent the hummingbirds’ amazing plumage.  Granted, glitter in hummingbird art isn’t for everyone but I [...]

So after birding our way up the entrance road to Cerro Azul Meambar National Park, having a near-stuck experience with our coaster, and seeing an amazingly cooperative Collared Trogon, all of which is related in the first part of this tale, we left our gang of hardcore birders in the parking lot of the national [...]

Guatemala’s current capital, Guatemala City and colonial capital, Antigua both lie in the central highlands. Most of this vast region is between 2000 and 4000 meters above sea level and characterized by cool mountain forest habitat. Apparently, it’s also magic for hummingbirds. I’ve previously encountered the typical feeder hummingbirds of this region working the noble [...]

Though I’ve been back in the city for almost a week I haven’t come close to using up all of my upstate birding tales yet!  Like the last time I visited my folks I spent some time photographing hummingbirds, but this time I was at my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Paul’s house taking advantage of [...]

Great pictures of nesting Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are available on KidWings, a site dedicated to teaching “young and old about the wonders of birds.”  My favorite is of a nestling upset about an approaching tent caterpillar.

During my second trip upstate in the last three weeks (and after my second Big Day in as many weekends) I was up for some relaxation Sunday, and got it with my family. Of course, for me, relaxation includes watching birds, so the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming to my parents’ feeders featured prominently in my relaxation [...]

A new species of hummingbird has been discovered in Columbia!  The Gorgeted Puffleg Eriocnemis isabellae is already considered endangered, mostly because of slash-and-burn coca farmers displaced by the U.S. sponsored coca eradication efforts in other parts of Columbia.  For more information about hummingbirds in Columbia (the birdiest country in the world) visit the Columbian Hummingbird [...]