Canivet's Emerald Hummingbird

Val's much sharper (than mine below) pic of a Canivet's Emerald Hummingbird, Puerto Morelos, Mexico; 12/24/10.

I am not sure how Luis spotted this beautiful hummingbird, but he was pointing in a tree and said the name of the bird. The rest of us (6 of us) were straining into our binoculars and viewfinders to see what he was looking at, and it took several minutes more before anyone else saw it. I think I was the last to finally spot it, and when I did, I found it incredible that Luis saw it in the first place. Look at the photo (Below) where I had my 250mm lens zoomed in all the way. Go ahead and play "Where's waldo" only in this case it's, "Where's the Canivet?" If you didn't know ahead of time that a hummingbird was in the photo, I doubt you'd even think it was a picture of a hummingbird. Why in the world was I taking a picture of a bramble of random flora?


Where's Waldo? Can you spot the Canivet's emerald Humminbird in this photo? Puerto Morelos, Mexico; 12/24/10.



The same photo from above, cropped. It was the bright red bill that finally clued me in on its location; Puerto Morelos, Mexico; 12/24/10.

 Canivet's Emeralds, formerly known as Fork-tailed Emeralds, are endemic to eastern Mexico, and the two most northern countries of Central America - Belize and Guatemala. Their habitat is brushy woodland, overgrown clearings, and forest edges mainly in arid to semihumid areas. Luis said that their beaks are 1-1¼ times that of the head, and that is how he can identify it from other similar green hummingbirds.