Snowcap

One of my nemesis birds

Many people who enjoy photographing birds will have a so called “nemesis” bird. This is one that, for various reasons, has proven to be difficult to photograph well. Usually it is because the bird is rare, lives in an area that is difficult to access, or maybe, just bad luck. This is one of my nemesis birds, the Snowcap. A tiny hummingbird that lives in Costa Rica, it is not particularly rare, but is very localized. The primary problem with photographing this bird is that the male is a nightmare to expose properly. They live in areas that are normally dark-edges of the cloud forest at mid elevations. Their body is a deep maroon color that in most lights looks black. The top of their heads is white-almost a “neon” white. Very difficult to get the body to show its colors and still preserve any detail in the white head. This shot was taken at the Hotel Rivas, near Turrialba, CR. While there were a number of the birds feeding on the Verbena flowers, the usual difficulty of proper exposure was present.