Rare hummingbird photographed for first time ever

From Wildlife Extra (and I hope that this item, unlike another one of theirs, has nothing to do with the day it is today 🙂 ):

First ever photos of Endangered Santa Marta Sabrewing

01/04/2010 08:41:56

Endangered bird threatened by habitat degradation

April 2010. The first ever photo of a living Santa Marta Sabrewing (Campylopterus phainopeplus) was taken on 24 March by Laura Cardenas next to the new “Condor Observation Tower” at 1,900 metres elevation in the El Dorado Nature Reserve in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Laura was monitoring migratory birds in the reserve as part of the Crossing the Caribbean project: identifiying critical sites for migratory birds in northern Colombia. This photograph is the first confirmation of this spectacular hummingbird after over 60 years when the species was collected by ornithologists in 1946.

The Calliope Hummingbird, Smallest Bird in North America: here.

Black-chinned Hummingbird Archilochus alexandri: here.

How hummingbirds fight the wind: here.

Phloem tree sap is similar in sugar content to flower nectar, but more difficult to tap. Sapsuckers know how, and hummingbirds are one of the beneficiaries: here.

Hummingbirds in Panama and Costa Rica: here.

Hummingbirds catch flying bugs with the help of fast-closing beaks: here.

Humans and sapsuckers both help hummingbirds extend their breeding range by providing them with an alternative to nectar: here.

Geomagnetic Storms and Hummingbird Migration: here.

Rufous hummingbird: here.

New population of one of the world’s rarest birds discovered in Columbia: here.

March 2012: One of the last strongholds of the endangered gold-ringed tanager has been protected with the creation of a new reserve in Colombia: here.

Animal photos: here.