Blue-vented Hummingbird: Bougainvilla Hotel, San Jose, Costa Rica, December 2022 — It was before sun-up when we met to bird the gardens at the Bouganvilla on the first morning of our trip to Costa Rica this year, and this was pretty much the first bird we encountered. The Blue-vented Hummingbird (formerly Steely-vented Hummingbird) is a common hummer of the dry north-west of the country that just makes it up into the central valley…so the Bouganvilla was the only place we were going to see it on this trip. 🙂 It is a small, energetic hummer that feeds from a variety of flowers. Sony Rx10iv at 517mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications, and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISOs 1600, 3200, and 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Lesser Violetear Hummingbird, Batsu Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — As I said yesterday, this used to be the Green Violetear until the species was split into the Mexican and the Lesser Violetear. I don’t quite get the Lesser…since there is no Greater, and the Mexican and Lesser are exactly the same average size??? The mysteries of bird names are many. This posture is an aggressive or defensive pose…with the ears flared out…and is generally only seen in confrontations between two Violetears. There was another Violetear hovering…after the same perch. Sony Rx10iv at 586mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Lesser Violetear and White-throated Mountain-gem: Batsu Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — As I mentioned it was a missy, mostly cloudy afternoon at Batsu Gardens and Marino put out flowers for us to photograph the hummingbirds. This is two of the classic high country hummers of Central America: the Lesser Violetear and the White-throated Mountain-gem. The Lesser Violetear used to be the Green Violetear before it was split, pretty much at the northern border of Costa Rica, with the birds north now called Mexican Violetear. The Lesser ranges to the edges of South America. (And, no, there is no Greater Violetear.) The White-throated Mountain-gem is even more confused. It is endemic to the Talamanca Mountains and higher volcanos of Costa Rica and Panama, but some authorities consider the Panama birds to be the Grey-tailed Mountain-gem, a separate species endemic to Panama. Whatever! Still both attractive hummers of the high mountains. Sony Rx10iv at 493mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.