Trinidad: Tufted Coquette No. 2

This will be the last of the Trinidad-Tobago hummingbird photos, but more stuff to follow.

When we watch birds and try to photograph them we prefer to find them in good light, and of course sitting relatively still. I had few opportunities to see the Tufted Coquette on a perch, and in this case the male Coquette was illuminated by harsh back-lighting. These shots almost hit the "delete" pile, but I realized they show some features that I had missed when watching the bird flitting about.

There are 10 species of Coquettes, comprising the genus Lophornis. Six of them are said to have rufous crests. The first photo here shows the orange crest from the side, shining brightly. It also shows the amazing dark-tipped neck plumes, which I guess are the "tufts" referred to in the common name. The red bill is transluminated. The second shot showed me 2 features I had not noted when in the field, namely the bright green sheen of the throat and the rufous tail.

So how about the other 9 Coquettes? They include the White-crested, Short-crested, Festive, Rufous-crested, Dot-eared, Black-crested, Frilled, Peacock, and Spangled Coquettes, but you'll have to do quite a bit of traveling to find them all.

Trinidad: Tufted Coquette No. 1

Birders visiting a new area often have certain target species in mind, special birds they hope to view during their trip. High on the list of Trididad-Tobago "must-see" species is the tiny but glorious Tufted Coquette, one of the smallest hummingbirds in the world and one of the most spectacular. There are about 335 hummingbird species, and the Coquettes rate in the top five by many, as in this list from one hummingbird lover:

http://10000birds.com/twenty-hummingbirds-to-see-before-you-die.htm

I'll save the taxonomy details for post #2, but for now just drink in this little gem, measuring about 6.6 cm (2.6" ) and weighing all of 2.3 grams (that's less than a tenth of an ounce!!). We watched these active hummer feeding on their favorite flowers at Asa Wright, which was fortunate since they seldom came to the feeders. Few of the Tufted Coquettes stopped  to perch, but luckily this male obliged during our orientation walk on the very first morning. The strange spiked feathers seen here on the left of his neck are black-tipped rufous plumes, present only on the male. The white band near the rump is present in both sexes, and the bill is rather short and straight. This bird rocks!

Good summary on the Tufted Coquette from the Cornell Ornithology Lab:

http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/identification?p_p_spp=241211