Endemica Nature tours
The Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei)
In our specialized photography tours across Colombia, participants gain access to habitats that hold rare and highly localized species, offering controlled conditions for precise, high-level wildlife imaging. These routes are designed for photographers who require reliable encounters, optimized light, and predictable behavior patterns to document uncommon Andean and cloud-forest birds at a professional standard.
The Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei) occupies a restricted montane range along the eastern and central Andes of Colombia, with populations anchored to humid cloud-forest systems between roughly 2,400 and 3,600 meters. Its presence is strongly tied to steep, moisture-laden slopes where persistent fog, dense epiphyte loads, and vertically stratified flowering assemblages create a stable high-energy foraging framework. Within this elevational band, the species shows a marked fidelity to edge-rich microhabitats, including mature forest margins, naturally broken canopy zones, and moss-saturated understory clearings that sustain continuous nectar availability. The photograph documents the bird’s ecological context without the need for further descriptive detail, allowing the focus to remain on the environmental and biogeographic conditions that shape its distribution and persistence.
Z9 400mm 1.4x (560mm) iso 4000 f/7.1 1/2500s
The Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei)
In our specialized photography tours across Colombia, participants gain access to habitats that hold rare and highly localized species, offering controlled conditions for precise, high-level wildlife imaging. These routes are designed for photographers who require reliable encounters, optimized light, and predictable behavior patterns to document uncommon Andean and cloud-forest birds at a professional standard.
The Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (Coeligena bonapartei) occupies a restricted montane range along the eastern and central Andes of Colombia, with populations anchored to humid cloud-forest systems between roughly 2,400 and 3,600 meters. Its presence is strongly tied to steep, moisture-laden slopes where persistent fog, dense epiphyte loads, and vertically stratified flowering assemblages create a stable high-energy foraging framework. Within this elevational band, the species shows a marked fidelity to edge-rich microhabitats, including mature forest margins, naturally broken canopy zones, and moss-saturated understory clearings that sustain continuous nectar availability. The photograph documents the bird’s ecological context without the need for further descriptive detail, allowing the focus to remain on the environmental and biogeographic conditions that shape its distribution and persistence.
Z9 400mm 1.4x (560mm) iso 4000 f/7.1 1/2500s