Shining Sunbeam

*Top 50 Target Species

The Shining Sunbeam is a high-altitude hummingbird found year-round along Ecuador’s Andean slopes, typically between 2,500 and 4,300 meters in cloud forests, sub-páramo scrub, and shrubby ridgelines. Though patchily distributed, it is locally common and easily recognized by its coppery plumage and dazzling iridescent rump, which glows with purples and golds when caught in the right light. Globally listed as Least Concern, its population is presumed stable, with no major threats identified across its broad montane range. Females build mossy cup nests high in trees and raise two young alone, while both sexes forage for nectar and insects at all forest levels, often defending flowering patches with surprising tenacity.