Blue-chinned Sapphire

Sighting
Blue-chinned Sapphire was an infrequent visitor to the flowers near the verandah at the Asa Wright Centre. This is a juvenile bird which doesn’t show the blue chin of the adult birds.

Species
Blue-chinned Sapphire Chlorestes notata is a hummingbird that breeds from Colombia south and east to the Guianas, Trinidad, Peru, and Brazil. For Brazil, the species’ range is along the main Amazon River Basin as well as the Atlantic Forest, both in the north east, as well as far south of the coastal strip. It is sometimes placed in the genus Chlorostilbon. There are three subspecies of which C. n. notata is found in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a bird of forests and sometimes cultivated areas with large trees. Blue-chinned Sapphires feed on insects and nectar, mainly in trees but sometimes on vines or smaller plants like Heliconia.

Status and Disribution
It is a species of least concern with an unknown population in its large range. It is a widespread resident on Trinidad and rare on Tobago.

References
Asa Wright Centre; BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 164.

Photograph
The bird was photographed in the early morning light at 1/2000th of a second, f5.6 and ISO 2000.