Copper-rumped Hummingbird

Sightings
Copper-rumped Hummingbird was one of the most common visitors to the feeders and flowers around the verandah at the Asa Wright Centre in Trinidad. It tended to move quickly from one flower head to the next so it was necessary to develop a technique to try and photograph it. A predictive approach was the best that I found whereby one tried to decide the next flower that it would fly to and focus on that. This is one of the better results.

Species
Copper-rumped Hummingbird Amazilia tobaci inhabits open country, gardens and cultivation. There are seven subspecies of which A. t. erythronotos is found in Trinidad and A. t. tobaci is found in Tobago. The subspecies which breeds in Trinidad is smaller and has more bronzing on the upperparts than the nominate A. t. tobaci of Tobago.

Status and Distribution
It is a species of least concern with an unknown population which breeds in a small range in Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago. It is a very common resident and widespread on both Trinidad and 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 166.

Photograph
The photo was taken in early morning light at 1/2000th of a second, f5.6 and ISO 2500.