It is difficult, if not impossible, to resist the enchantment of a hummingbird. One is inevitably bewitched by its graceful figure, dazzling colors and fascinating aerial acrobatics as it hovers before a flower, equipped by evolution to sip the nectar of flowers and repay nature by pollinating them, hummingbirds are magical creatures and have inspired myths and legends in societies all over the world. We have only to recall the giant figure of a hummingbird traced by the ancient Nazca culture in the deserts of southern Peru.
Their diversity is striking, as is the fact that all of the more than 350 known species are only found in the Americas, from Alaska to Tierra de Fuego, where they live in practically every habitat: jungles, mountains, seacoasts, beaches, deserts, high Andean moors and ranges. But they are not evenly spread through the New World: Colombia, which is proverbially rich in biodiversity, seems to be their favorite land. It harbors nearly half of all the known species of hummingbird, moreover many are endemic. In the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains in the north of the country, for example, there are five species found nowhere else on the planet. It is difficult to believe! And more incredible still, when we recall that there are no hummingbirds in Europe, even though it is the source of the oldest known proto-hummingbird fossil - a creature which lived 50 million years ago. This book covers that and many other aspects of these fascinating birds: their habits, biology, ecology, distribution and the legends they have inspired. It offers a unique and compelling combination of science and the art of photography.