Trinidad: Brown Violet-ear

One of the highlights of the Trinidad portion of our trip was a Jan 17, 2013 visit to Yerette, Theo Ferguson's self-described Home of the Hummingbird. Theo is an engaging hummingbird fanatic and expert photographer. His home is an ideal setting for viewing the hummingbirds of Trinidad, with up to 13 species possible in a single day. Our visit was punctuated by some overcast and light rain, muting the colors but delighting the hummers who took a break from the feeders to take a rain bath.

Shown here is the Brown Violet-ear, surely one of the least iridescent of all humminbirds. The Violet-ears, all 4 of them, make up the genus Colibri. The Brown Violet-ear is a good-sized hummer with a blue-green throat and violet ear, ranging widely from Belize down to Brazil. Not seen as often as many of the other hummer species in Trinidad, and only rarely on Tobago. Overcast limited the shutter speed here to 1-60th sec., so some sharpness is lost, yet even in the rain we get to see some color. Female's  plumage is similar to male, but duller. This may be the male.