Marvelous Spatuletail

I just got back from three weeks in Peru. The first half of the trip focused on hummingbirds--not really my thing, but I was invited by a very accomplished bird photographer and viewed it as a good learning opportunity... until he backed out. I don't do multiflash, so for the most part I was alternating between a single flash and natural light. Plenty of opportunities to experiment, given that I saw over 45 species of hummers throughout the course of the trip.

The main prize was the marvelous spatuletail, the world's most spectacular hummingbird. It's only found in one small area of Peru and is considered endangered (estimates of 500-800 individuals left). It has only 4 tail feathers, two of which give the bird its name.

Though there were some feeders set up that the spatuletails would visit near this particular location, I spent the majority of my time in a nearby lek, where up to four males would flit about looking for opportunities to display for females. The lek was located in a dense thicket, so sight lines were few and far between, and opportunities for open shots of a perched bird--much less a dancing one--were difficult to come by.

Over the course of three days, I took a number of images of the males, so there's still a lot to sort through. This one appealed to me, as the muted natural light (no flash) and soft tones give a nice sense of the hidden environment in which the lek was situated.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x TC
ISO 2000
1/100th
f/5.6

Hope to have more to share from the trip soon!

Max