Racket-tailed Puffleg

Birding abroad: Racket-tailed Puffleg.

Hummingbirds have always been one of my favourite birds. Small, energetic little fellows with a mesmerizing color display. During my visit to the cloud forest in Mindo (Ecuador) I had the opportunity to meet a couple of these small gems. Here is one of my favourite too: the Racket-tailed Puffleg.

Here he is, the Racket-tailed Puffleg (Ocreatus underwoodii), also known as Booted Racket-tail. The explanation for his 'exotic' name lies in his appearance too by the way: A tail that looks like a racket and puff legs or boots. 

The lodge I visited was 'surrounded' with lots of feeders, so the garden was 'filled' with different hummingbird species. One of them was the Racket-tailed Puffleg. His puffy legs and his long tail were the eyecatchers. I shot multiple shots of this small hummingbird (female: 8.7 cm and male: 13.2 cm) as he was constantly on the move. Most of the time enjoying sugar water from all the different feeders.

The Racket-tailed Puffleg is one that you can likely find in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela (West of South-America)

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