Pura Vida VI: Hummingbird central in Monteverde #348-356

At the end of our morning tour in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, our guide dropped of us at Cafeteria el Colibri at the gate to the park. He rhymed off the names of a bunch of hummingbirds while pointing in wild zigzags and then left us to our own devices. We stayed there for at least an hour, and in all honesty, this was the highlight of the day for us. Go figure, it's the part where anyone can go with there's no admission fee, and the place we saw the most birds! It was one of the most magical things I have experienced!

The coffee shop was buzzing - not just because it's the only place to get food at the park, but it was literally buzzing with hummingbirds! Multiple feeding stations were set up and there were several birds at each, some of them even competing for spots!

(Click the gear to watch in 1080 HD--look especially for violet saberwing and bananaquit in this video)


The violet saberwing was certainly the most striking hummingbird--a very brilliant blue that just doesn't photograph quite like you see it in person, and it was quite bit bigger than the others (14-15 cm).

#348: Violet Saberwing; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

Because they zipped around so quickly, it was hard to photograph these little beauties, and also to catch the brief moments when the sun hit their feathers at just the right angle and made them shimmer. The purple-throated mountain gem was breathtakingly striking.

#349: Purple-throated Mountain Gem; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

Purple-throated mountain gem (female). Love the splotchy green pattern!

I furiously snapped as many pictures as I could, hoping that I didn't miss any of the varieties. It was a little chaotic, and hard to focus on one at a time!

#350: Green Violetear; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

#351: Coppery-headed Emerald; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

#352: Green Hermit; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

This little cheeky monkey was coming to the hummingbird feeder too. One of these things is not like the others...

#353: Bananaquit; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

#354: Stripe-tailed Hummingbird (female); Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015
Note brown square at top of wing.

#355: Green-crowned Brilliant; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

 
Unfortunately I didn't get a sitting shot of this next one, but it just seemed to never sit!

#356: Magenta-throated Woodstar; Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Cafeteria El Colibri); December 2015

(Click the gear to watch in 1080 HD and look for great shot of the blue throat on a green-crowned brilliant at the start of the video!)

It was hard to believe and easy to forget that it was just two days past Christmas, until I was served this sweet little reminder of what things were like back home. This was just a short little sugar rush before heading back into the park! Yes, there's more!