Male Black-throated Mango

Sightings
A male Black-throated Mango was not a very common visitor to the feeders and flowers around the verandah of the Asa Wright Centre in Trinidad. This beautiful male bird was perched in the rain quite close to the main building on a bare branch. I found it surprising that these tiny hummingbirds appeared to be quite happy to stay in the open in the rain and get very wet.

Species
Black-throated Mango Anthracothorax nigricollis breeds from Panama south to north easterm Bolivia, southern Brazil and northern Argentina. It is also common on both Trinidad and Tobago. It is a local or seasonal migrant with some birds moving up to 1000 miles although its movements are not well understood. This small bird inhabits open country, gardens and cultivation.

Status and Distribution
It is a species of least concern in its enormous breeding range in south America of some 15 million square kilometres. It is a common resident on Trinidad, but less common 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
Photographed at 1/500th of a second, f5.6 and ISO 1250.