Return of Bird of the Week: Bearded Mountaineer

One of the charms of hummingbirds is that some of them have wonderful names. One such hummingbird is the Bearded Mountaineer. It’s called a “Mountaineer” because it’s a high elevation hummingbird, found exclusively between 2,500–3,900 meters in a few intermontane valleys in central Peru. Think about it: this is an area at 9,160 feet, a place where WC was gasping for breath just walking, and there’s this hummingbird that beats it wings 80 times per second without any trouble at all. The “Bearded” part of the name is also completely apt, once you see a male displaying: The photo doesn’t…