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Baños Hummingbirds: Where the Andes Meet the Amazon

The Baños region — at the transition between Andean cloud forest and Amazon — has exceptional hummingbird diversity; the sword-billed hummingbird, the booted racket-tail, and dozens of other species inhabit the transition zone

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Swordbill Hummingbird
The sword-billed hummingbird - the only bird with a bill longer than its body - lives in the cloud forest above Baños; the beak, up to 12 cm long, has evolved to examine the long-tubed flowers of Datura; the bird's extraordinary anatomy makes it one of the most sought after in the Andes
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Hummingbird Transition Zone
The Baños elevation (1,820 m) places it in the altitudinal transition zone - the cloud forest hummingbirds above and the pre-Amazonian species below both occur here; the variety of hummingbirds available from Baños in a single day is extraordinary
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Booted Racket-Tail
The booted racket-tail—a small hummingbird with white leg puffs and two long, racket-shaped tail feathers—is found in the cloud forest around Baños; the male's display flight, where the rackets are pulled up in front of the female, is one of Andra's most spectacular courtship performances
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Cloud Forest Feeders
Several cottages and gardens around Baños have hummingbird feeders — the feeding stations attract up to 15 species; watching a dozen species simultaneously hover, hunt and eat in an Andean garden is an experience of impossible beauty
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Andean Emerald
The Andean Emerald - a vibrant green hummingbird found in the cloud forest fringes around Baños - is one of the most common species at feeders; but the common species' extraordinary iridescence (the feathers change color as the angle of light shifts) remains permanently astonishing
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The resting hummingbirds of the night
Hummingbirds enter a state of torpor at night - lowering their body temperature dramatically to survive the cold Andean nights; the ability to observe hummingbirds lying motionless on branches after dark and then reviving at dawn provides insight into the extraordinary metabolic flexibility of these birds