This bird is colorful and he is fast.

Compared to ruby-throated hummingbirds the green-throated Carib (Eulampis holosericeus) is a surprise at St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

He’s larger than any ruby-throat and has a bulky build (for a hummingbird), a long broad tail, and a long decurved bill.  Females have even longer, more decurved bills but duller plumage.

As his name suggests the “Carib” lives in the Caribbean, never leaving the arc of islands from eastern Puerto Rico to Grenada.  Fortunately his preferred habitat includes heavily degraded former forest, gardens and urban parks, all of which are easy to find in the Lesser Antilles, especially at the vacation resorts.

I didn’t see this hummer while he waited on his perch but when he zoomed in to sip some nectar … like this …

… he was fast!

Beautiful and quick, the green-throated Carib’s colors are fast (the colors don’t run).

(photo by Marc AuMarc via Flickr, Creative Commons license.  Click on the image to see the original photo and Marc AuMarc’s Flickr site)