Just Humming along...

The little guys are White-bellied Woodstars and the "large" one is a  Buff-tailed Coronet.

A few years ago, the BBC sent a film crew to visit our friends at Reserva Las Gralarias in Ecuador. They were working on a new series, already shown in the U.K., titled "Life Story" and narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The second episode called "Hummingbird Fight Club" was filmed there. Click on the title to see a preview.

Las Gralarias is an amazing place to visit with birds that you'll never see up here in our freezing climate...they even had a few of our warbly friends when we visited! I still think about it whenever I get chilled to the bone up here and look forward to returning one day. We owe so many thanks to Jane Lyons, Edison Buenano and Tim and Kathy Krynak for making our stay do fantastic. Now that I have a better lens and a little(very little) more skill, I may even be able to get more shots in focus! They just move soooo fast!

 Andean Emerald...truly a jewel!

The feisty Booted Racket-tail...

Buff-tailed Coronet, you can tell because his tail is buff. 

Clever...

 Buff-winged Starfrontlet, all puffed up due to the rain.

It is a rainforest after all!

Fawn-breasted Brilliant.

 Fawn-breasted Brilliant, I think he actually made a sound!

 Great Sapphirewing or Green-crowned Brilliant...hmmm...which one was it?

 Now this is a Great Sapphirewing...I think...

This is a Green-crowned Woodnymph with a White-whiskered Hermit pretending to be the boogey man.

It's a Sapphire-vented Puffleg...cause he has puffy legs of course!

 Shining Sunbeam.

He truly was one a wet afternoon of jungle birding.

Yep, that bill really is that long on this Sword-billed Hummingbird!

 From base of the bill to the tail tip, this species averages 5.5" in length, not counting the 4" bill!

 Velvet-purple Coronet was my favorite hummingbird of our trip.

They looked gorgeous in the rain, very soft and velvety!

Violet-tailed Sylphs have crazy long tails to impress the ladies...

The things that men do for love...

White-whiskered Hermit...hey! That's like me when it gets below zero here!

If you value these hummers and all of the birds that live in Ecuador and the many that migrate to our neck of the woods in the spring, consider helping out the Las Gralarias Foundation. 

Every little bit helps!

Thanks!