Marvelous Spatuletail

A male marvelous spatuletail perches in a lek near Pomacoches in northern Peru. The species gets its name from the male's two longest tail feathers, which can be controlled independently and play a major role in the hummingbird's courtship displays. The spatuletail is considered by many to be the world's most spectacular hummingbird, but it is also one of the rarest. Confined to a small region in northern Peru, only 500-800 marvelous spatuletails are estimated to remain.

I visited a spatuletail lek site over three days hoping to view and photograph males as they perched and displayed for the females. Made up of a dense tangle of branches and vines, the lek proved to be a difficult environment for photography, but a rare window occasionally presented itself.