Female Scintillant Hummingbird Feeding at Purple Flowers

A female Scintillant Hummingbird inserts her short bill into a purple flower while hovering between garden stems, warm highlights tracing the wings and rufous tail at San Gerardo de Dota valley in Costa Rica. This tiny Costa Rica-Panama highland hummingbird has a short straight bill; females show warm buff-rufous flanks and rufous in the tail. The exposure of 1/4000 sec, f/5.6 and ISO 1600 freezes the decisive body position and separates the principal wing and tail feathers while retaining only fine traces of motion at the fastest edges; the photograph was made in natural light without flash.