It's been a while since my last post. Too much work kept me away from blogging and visiting other sites. I believe some of you will like this one.
Last Sunday evening Tommy and I had a family meeting. To be honest, we were tired and not very excited about it, and at one point we decided to go to the front yard and explore a little bit.
What a great decision!! We found the most popular tree we've ever seen. Birds all over.
We found an Amazilia Amazilia perched quietly on one of the higher branches. At the beginning it was quite hard to photograph, as it was very hard and our camera is not exactly birds friendly, but then we realized that close by there was a balcony on a second floor and asked for permision to get there. And we got it!
The pictures are not too close (click to enlarge for details) but we managed to capture a sequence of a behaviour we've never seen in person before. This bird was taking care of its feathers, keeping a couple of other Amazilias away that came too close to the tree. It wouldn't bother about other birds, just its own kind.
The Amazilia is the most common hummingbird in Lima. Feathers are mostly cinammon brown with the head and neck in a bright iridiscent green. The belly is light brown going orange and the tail is brown and short. It has a white patch on the lower side of the neck. The beak is black with a red point.
Amazilias live in arid zones with bushes along the coast of the Pacific ocean, less than 2,000 meters above sea level. It has adapted pretty well to living in parks and gardens of cities along the coast.
These birds like to 'take baths' and sit in the sun to dry. They love nectar and when they are flying they need to feed every 10 to 15 minutes.
This particular species can be found along the coast from Ecuador and Peru (down to Nasca, 306 Km./191 miles south of Lima)
Watching this little bird you can't argue with its name, as Lynne says, you just have to love a bird called Amazilia.
10 comments:
Good for you!
Thanks for the link Mel! I really do love the name of that tiny bird. It's such a huge name for such a bitty thing. Nice pix! I like that you and Tommy got permision to go on some one else's balcony to get better pictures.
Hola birdlady, I'm really happy for that finding, after WAY TOO MANY days without going outside and working a lot :)
Dear Lynne, I knew you would like it, Tommy gets excited when everytime you visit him, he's not much of a comment guy, but reads every one of your posts (you've got a fan!!! and I'm staring to get jealous!! hehehe)
Great job, Mel. I love your complete description of the Amazilia. You and Tommy must have been excited when you first saw that bird. I'm so glad you had the opportunity to share it with us.
Thanks Mary, it was great indeed!
Nice post Mel,
There's a lot to observe in common garden birds. You've done well to climb up to get an eye-level angle to photograph it.
Great photos and info Mel.
Nice post! The birds are beautiful!
Very interesting post. I've never seen a hummingbird. There are none in Europe and on my only trip to the Americas, I saw none (there aren't many in Yellowstone either).
Thank you guys!!
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