The Antillean crested hummingbird - one of three hummingbird species on Antigua.

Antillean crested hummingbird, male.  Photographed in 2016 on Antigua.

I wonder, is the raised crest and pointy beak an attempt by this fellow to blend in with his surroundings?  Probably not, but it's a funny thought.

The Antillean crested hummingbird is one of three hummingbird species on Antigua, one of the smaller islands in the Caribbean (the archipelago is called the Lesser Antilles).  Like the green-throated carib (yesterday's blog, found here), it is endemic to the Lesser Antilles.  The third species, which I have never seen, is the purple-throated carib.

The female (click here for image) looks stunningly different from the male and reminds me of the Anna's hummingbird females I used to see on BC's coast.

This photo was taken in 2016 when my wife and I took a cruise of the Caribbean.  We didn't see a ton of birds, but I did manage to get half a dozen good photos on the island of Antigua.  I was using my D500 camera and my 80-400 mm S-series Nikon lens.  The shutter speed was 1/800th of a second, the ISO was 200, and the aperture was f/5.6.  The lens was fully extended.

I have owned half a dozen good long telephoto lenses, some zoom, some prime.  I still have my 80-400, as it is an excellent lens that covers a good zoom range, although I rarely use it.  My main go-to long lenses at the moment are my 500 mm PF Nikon that I use on my D500 (still going strong) and my newly acquired Z 180-600 mm lens that I use on my newly purchased Z6 III camera.  I will bring both setups on my upcoming cruise.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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