When walking around the street of Vina Del Mar or Valaparaiso, when ever you are in the vicinity of gardens with flowering flora, you will often hear a bird call that resembles a small cartoon lazer gun firing in rapid succession with the odd slow pulse intermittently. While up in the hills of Valaparaiso we finally got a glimps of what was making these sounds, the smallest of Chile's Humming Birds, the Green-backed Firecrown (
Sephanoides sephaniodes). This species is named for the crimson patch that is occassionally visable on its forehead. This patch is only visable from certain angles (in certain light) so cannot be relied upon as a sole means of identification. Its relative beak and body size aswell as its emerald back and white patch behind the eye are also key identifiers.
Today it was my turn to get al little school girl like, seeing these birds has got me pumped. Huming Birds are something that I have always wanted to see and to see them in action within a week of arriving has me excited about what is to come. As previously mentioned, due to the angle of this photo the crown was not visable but hopefully I will see them again so I can get one that shows it. Also, I really want to get the traditional mid flight shot.
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