Male Talamanca Hummingbird Flying Head-on with Wings Raised

A male Talamanca Hummingbird flies directly toward the camera with both wings swept into tall parallel arcs, its violet crown and turquoise throat catching the light at Batsu Gardens in Costa Rica. Restricted to the Costa Rica-Panama highlands, this large hummingbird was formerly grouped with Rivoli's Hummingbird; the male flashes a violet crown and turquoise throat, while the female has mottled gray underparts and a white postocular mark. The exposure of 1/4000 sec, f/5.6 and ISO 10000 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.