Hillstar Hummingbird

Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus

Status: Critically Endangered and only one very small population of them in the Andes mountains.

Flitting at high altitudes among the flowers in the remote ranges of the Andes mountains of Ecuador, the blue-throated hillstar hummingbird is a flash of deep blue and green across the landscape.

In a pre-Incan legend in Peru the condor was once king of the skies and messenger to the heavens. It was he who communicated the supplications and prayers to the creator, Viracocha. The condor would take the messages from humans and convey them, but even given this celestial charge, he had never laid eyes upon Viracocha's visage, for he was not permitted to do so.

The hummingbird was a much more unassuming creature than the grand condor, but she had a knowledge of the world gleaned from sipping at the nectar that was the essence of the flowers and plants. She was also a curious and creative little being.

One day the hummingbird stowed away in the condor's feathers as the condor flew with messages to Viracocha. When they came into the heavenly sphere, hummingbird emerged and looked and basked in the radiance of the divine visage, and was transformed and elevated in that moment. Thereafter, condor conceded that while he would be the king and protector of the skies, the hummingbird would take on the mantle of messenger and spiritual guide.

References:
Lopez, V., Star Wolf, L. (2020). Shamanic Mysteries of Peru: The Heart Wisdom of the High Andes. United States: Inner Traditions/Bear.

"Viracocha". Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Viracocha

Beck, Hans-Martin. "Condor and Hummingbird". Inka World. https://inka-world.com/en/condor-and-hummingbird/

Highfield, Johnathan (2004). "The dreaming quipucamayoq: Myth and landscape in Wilson Harris' The Dark Jester". Atlantic Studies. 1 (2): 196-209.

Turek, Carole. “Legends of the Hummingbird”. Hummingbird Spot https://www.hummingbirdspot.com/legends