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Dorian Anderson Photography


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2019 Favorites (21)

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Sword-billed Hummingbird
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Sword-billed Hummingbird

This unbelievable bird is the only example with a beak longer than its body. The evolved structure allows the Sword-billed to feed on long, tubular flowers excluding short-billed hummingbirds, and the bird is an important pollinator of high Andean plants between Venezuela and Bolivia. I photographed this male at a feeder array near Manizales in Colombia's Central Andes, the close-cropped headshot offering a detailed and exaggerated view of his namesake feature. I used a bit of fill flash to reveal feather detail, and the completely clear background was achieved by shooting down the steep mountainside and onto a forested slope on the other side of the valley.

Hacienda El Bosque, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, 7/3/19
Canon 600mm f/4 on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/200 at f/7.1, ISO 1600, fill flash

  • Untitled photo
  • Sword-billed Hummingbird
  • Yellow-eyed Penguin (NZ endemic)
  • Willet
  • Peregrine Falcon - Juvenile eating fledgling Common Tern
  • Buller's Albatross
  • Buff-tailed Coronets
  • Bufflehead
  • Black Stilt (NZ endemic)
  • Black Skimmer
  • Blue Pitta
  • Dunlin
  • Thick-billed Euphonia
  • Red Junglefowl
  • Wandering Albatross
  • Semipalmated Sandpiper
  • Kea (NZ endemic)
  • Short-billed Dowitcher
  • Bar-tailed Godwit
  • Crescent-faced Antpitta
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