AWARDS: ENGLAND / WILTSHIRE / LAKE DISTRICT / WALES / SCOTLAND / COAST OF S.W. ENGLAND / COAST / STORMS / LAKES & MOUNTAINS / WINTER LANDSCAPES / DESERTS / ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY / BRITISH BIRDS 1 / BRITISH BIRDS 2 / BRITISH MAMMALS / BRITISH INSECTS / WORLD BIRDS / WORLD MAMMALS / NATURE
RUFOUS-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD
Clothing the rain-drenched slopes of the Andes between 2000m and 3000m altitude, cloud forest supports exceptional diversity of birds. This habitat has more hummingbirds than anywhere else on earth and in just three days at Ecuador's Bellavista cloud forest I recorded 19 species. To photograph them I pre-focused on a space adjacent to a sugar-water feeder. When overcast, there is little light in the understory of the rainforest, so I used high-speed synchronised flash to light this rufous-tailed hummingbird. ISO 800 has recorded the background fairly dark, reducing the visibility of distracting branches and highlights.
F/5.6, 1/1250th second, ISO 800
Accepted: South Devon 2014
