Hummingbirds of Costa Rica

Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Talamanca cloud forest, Costa Rica, November 7, 2025.

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For this my third post on Costa Rica I decided to tally all of the hummingbirds we saw over the two weeks in November and post them here. These species are all unique to Central America (with some overlap north into Mexico or south into South America), with one local species that will look familiar to Arizonans.

For anyone from the U.S., these are special birds. 

Our first group of three birds was spotted in the low altitude rainforest of NE Costa Rica, on the Caribbean side. We toured the area around Sarapique for several days, where the forest gets ~14 feet of rain a year! The lodge where we stayed, and the preserves we visited, all had covered walkways and platforms, keeping us and our gear dry (most of the time!).  However, there was not a lot of light! 

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White-necked Jacobin

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 254mm, 1/1000 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 12,800.

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White-necked Jacobins live year round in the humid forest canopies and second growth forests of Central and South America, see the ebird range map to the right. They feed on nectar and small arthropods, and are aggressive toward other species and territorial with each other around flowers and feeders. In Costa Rica they breed from January to June.​ (Ref: Birds of the World).

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 343mm, 1/1250 sec.,f/5.6, ISO 8000.

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The White-necked Jacobin is a strikingly beautiful bird. The "white neck" is really a patch at the nape, seen in the lower bird of the pair below. Most noticable in the male is the deep blue head and neck, offset by an almost pure white belly and tail. The tail feathers have a thin dark tip, creating a framing effect on the whole bird. The female has varying color, with "typical" markings of a blue-green breast scaled with white.

They are aggressive toward one another, as the interaction below demonstrates. Note that the male at the top of the image is missing part of his secondary flight feathers on the right wing, not matched on the left, and likely due to an injury. He seems to fly well in spite of the defect.

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 128mm, 1/2500 sec.,f/8.0, ISO 10,000.

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​For the photo geeks: These hummers are denizens of the rain forest, emphasis on a forest with high canopy and lots of rain! Which means fast moving birds in very little light. Low ambient light combined with the dark blue head and neck in the male with a bright white belly and tail make it difficult to get balanced exposure. Expose for the blue neck and the whites blow out, expose for the while tail, and the neck descends into darkness and noise! 

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Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 451mm, 1/1250 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 16,000.

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The Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer is widespread throughout Central America and parts of Columbia. The subspecies found in Costa Rica, seen here, does not have a bronze tail, although it retains the distinctive red feet of the rest of the species.  Bronze-tailed Plumeleteers prefer the understory and middle levels of wet forest edges feeding on flowers as well as flying insects. They are aggressive around flowers and will often defend territories to protect their food sources. (Ref: Birds of the World).

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The red feet are quite distinctive and a key field mark.

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 145mm, 1/1600 sec.,f/8.0, ISO 10,000.

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Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 200mm, 1/800 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 12,800.

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The Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is a medium sized hummingbird with a rufous-colored tail and bright pink/red bill. The Rufous-tailed feeds on nectar and small insects and is highly territorial over feeding sites. It prefers the lower understory and is one of the most common hummers at gardens and cultivated areas at the forest edge, from Mexico to Columbia. See the range map to the right. (Ref: Birds of the World).

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The rufous tail itself has dark tips. Unlike the Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, its feet are dark. 

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 167mm, 1/2000 sec.,f/13, ISO 16,000.

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The next six species were spotted in the Talamanca Mountains, just over the continental divide on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. This area is high cloud forest, still wet, but cooler, with mixed clouds. 

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White-throated Mountain Gem

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/1000 sec.,f/7.1, ISO 8000.

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​The White-throated Mountain-gem is endemic to the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. Within this small range there are two subspecies, one in Costa Rica and one in Panama. The male Costa Rican L.c. cinereicauda, seen here, has a gray tail, whereas the male nominate of western Panama has a dark green tail with a bluish-black subterminal band. (Ref: Birds of the World).

The White-throated Mountain-gem frequently forages in the canopy but nests in the understory. They are territorial at flowers and dominant over the Lesser Violetear, but subordinate to the Fiery-throated Hummingbird. ​

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/250 sec.,f/7.1, ISO 4000.

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An aside on feather colors: The color of a bird's feather is produced in two very different ways, either as the result of pigments (red/yellow or black/gray to brown/buff) or as the result of the nanostructure of the feather surface. The structural color is produced by the interaction of  incident light waves with the feather surface which reflect only certain colors back toward the viewer. The brilliant jewel like colors we see in hummingbirds is produced by the surface structure. Some of these colors are very directional, as in the throat of our next hummer, the Fiery-throated (Ref: David Allen Sibley, What It's Like to be a Bird, Knopf, New York, 2020, p. xi-xii).

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​Fiery-throated Hummingbird

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 472mm, 1/250 sec.,f/7.1, ISO 10,000.

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The Fiery-throated Hummingbird lives in the cloud forests of Costa Rica and Panama, defending patches of flowers and generally showing dominance over other hummingbird species in its range. 

The Fiery-throated is covered with a mixture of blue, green, and yellow feathers, with a dark throat patch that turns brilliant red at the correct angle, due to the feather surface structure,  hence the bird's name, Fiery-throated. (Ref: Birds of the World).

The throat color in the images above and below is most likely pigment based, in the brown to buff range. At the correct angle the nanostructural components that overlie the pigment become dominant, and the throat turns red.

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Below, a Fiery-throated Hummingbird approaching a flower showing off his blue tail with a lighter blue rump and green back. 

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 238mm, 1/3200 sec.,f/8.0, ISO 3200.

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In the series above and below, a Fiery-throated at a flower. As the bird drops down and turns his head, the angle of the throat to the light changes, adding a flash of color.

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The flashes of color occur very quickly and don't last long.

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Lesser Violetear

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 343mm, 1/1000 sec.,f/7.1, ISO 12,800.

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The Lesser Violetear lives in mountain forests from Costa Rica to Boliva. See the ebird map to the right.  

The Lesser Violetear is glittering green overall with a patch of violet feathers on the sides of the head, hench the name "violet tear."   Their overall color varies with the light, with a fascinating feather coloration on the throat that at certain angles looks like a knitted sweater. 

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 300mm, 1/1250 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 2000.

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In the images above and below we can see that the violet feathers below the eye are a bit longer and more prominent that the other contour feathers. Adjacent to the "tear" are a few feathers that turn toward purple with the angle of the light.

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Purple-throated Mountain Gem

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 363mm, 1/4000 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 4000.

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The Purple-throated Mountain Gem sports iridescent green contour feathers with a white stripe behind the eye. The female (shown here) has pale rufous underparts. The male is primarily green with a purple gorget. They live in the cloud forests of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, feeding on nectar supplemented with insects. 

For a photograph of the male, which I did not capture on this trip, click this link, Purple-throated Mountain Gem. ​

Range map, Purple-throated Mountain Gem. Ref: eBird.

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Volcano Hummingbird

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/1000 sec.,f/7.1, ISO 51,200.

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The Volcano Hummingbird is among the smallest birds in the world, weighing in at 2-3 grams. Its Spanish name is Chispita, meaning "little spark." Above is a male with a brilliant purple gorget that varies from shades of purple to red depending on the subspecies. Below and following is a female with dark spotting on the throat. The Volcano lives in the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama, above ~6000 feet. (Ref: Birds of the World).

The bird's small size and small bill limits its feeding to small flowers that are not attracted to larger species. Birds of the World reports this species will visit ~2,700 flowers a day to meet its metabolic needs. 

For the bird and photo geeks: The male captured above is feeding at small garden flowers typical for the species and its small size. The female below was
photographed at at an excellent cafe and preserve where the highly attentive staff had picked flowers and hung them on the upper deck to attract the birds. As the nectar would deplete, the staff would spray the flowers with more sugar-water. The female Volcano below is feeding off of a large flower in large part because it was dripping with sugar!  ​

Our location at the yellow square on the map.

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 324mm, 1/3200 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 4000.

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Above and below, a female Volcano feeding on nectar.

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Below, a view of a female Volcano Hummingbird, back and tail.

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Talamanca Hummingbird

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 324mm, 1/1000 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 2000.

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If this bird looks familiar to birders in SE Arizona, it is for a good reason. In 2017 the Magnificent Hummingbird, who lived in a range from Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona down to Costa Rica was split into two separate species, the Rivoli's to the north, (including Mt. Lemmon), and the Talamanca to the south, in the mountains of the same name in Costa Rica and western Panama. 

On this trip It was fun to see and photograph the Talamanca, which before November, I knew only as a footnote to the sad story of a local hummingbird losing a Magnificent name.

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The Talamanca is a large hummingbird. Compare the size of the Talamana to the flower in the image above and below on the left, with the size of the Volcano below on the right. The Volcano is about the size of the flower, the Talamanca is much larger.

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 324mm, 1/2500 sec.,f/6.3, ISO 4000.

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The Talamanca's throat and crest vary in color with the angle of the light. Again, the result of structural color.

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 238mm, 1/2500 sec., f/7.1, ISO 6400.

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The color variation becomes more obvious in the sequence that follows where within a fraction of a second the bird turns his head and the color disappears then reappears. Now you see it, now you don't!

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For completeness, below is an image of a Rivoli's Hummingbird, the Talamanca's near relative, photographed at the Southwestern Research Station in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona in April of 2023. As noted earlier, until 2017 the Talamanca and the Rivoli's were one species, the Magnificent. 

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To the right is a ebird range map for the Rivoli's.

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And finally, from the foothills of Costa Rica, a hummer even larger that the Talamanca, the largest of the hummers in Costa Rica the . . . .

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Violet Sabrewing

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Canon R5 m2, RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/400 sec., f/7.1, ISO 8000.

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The Violet Sabrewing lives in mountain forests from southern Mexico south to western Panama, frequenting second growth forests, forest edges, banana plantations and flower gardens. These photographs were captured at the Nest Nature Center in Costa Rica, which is in the foothills at ~1600 feet. 

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The bird is named for its large sabre shaped primary flight feathers, quite prominent in the sitting position, seen here. The body feathers are a deep violet with hints of green. The bill is curved down slightly toward the tip (decurved).

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The tips of the tail feathers are white.  The birds length is 13-15 cm or 5-6 inches.  (Ref: Birds of the World).

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In Closing . . . . . .

There are over 360 hummingbird species on this planet, all living in the western hemisphere, also known as the Americas.

Of this 360, about 50% live in the equatorial belt, from +10 degrees North (Costa Rica) to -10 degrees south (Brazil) latitude. About 50-54 species live in Costa Rica, making it a hummer hot spot with great places to visit and wonderful people to meet. So venture south for a visit, beef up your life-list, and get some great photographs!  In this post we have seen only 10 species, but all of them a lot of fun! Next time I visit, I will have 44 more species to discover!

That's all for now!  More coming soon.
​Happy trails!

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