Ecuador Hummingbirds

It is often cloudy and rainy in the Cloud Forest. As a result getting direct light with high shutter speeds becomes almost impossible to eliminate blur. That being said, there were great hummers at any of the places with feeders that I went. At 2000+ meters you find the violet tailed sylph which is one of the longest hummingbirds in Ecuador, and one of the smallest with the purple throated woodstar. One of my favorites is the Empress Brilliant. Due to the prevalence of feeders, the hummers become agitated if the bottles go empty too long. Its not uncommon for them to land on you while "demanding" breakfast. One of the most daring is the buff-tailed coronet. I had more than a few land on my head while up early with the sun. Once deployed, every hummingbird in the nabe comes in for a drink. Meanwhile at 1800m at the feeders in El Mirador, you get the tiny green-thorntail in the woodstar's niche. 4 Down at 1500meter, in Mindo proper the fabulous Andean Emerald. Also at the Mariposario was the fantastic White-whiskered Hermit.