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.