Costa's Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Calypte costae

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert and arid areas of the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, extending inland and up into southwestern US in summer.

Field Notes: Green upper parts and grey underparts. Male with iridescent violet face and gorget, which can appear black in places. Small, straight bill.

Personal Notes: Seen at the Sonora Desert Museum aviary.

Anna's Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Calypte anna

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in wooded, savannah, and urban areas along the Pacific coast of the US and extending into the southwestern US. In summer will extend up into Canada.

Field Notes: Green upper parts and grey underparts. Males with iridescent pink head and throat. Females overall duller, with few reddish feathers at throat as above. Short, straight bill. Costa's Hummingbird similar with range overlap but males with purple gorget, not pink.

Personal Notes: First spotted in urban Seattle and then later photographed in California.

Stripe-tailed Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Eupherusa eximia

Population Estimate: 50-500K

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical montane (800-2500m) moist forest of southern Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Small green hummingbird with thin, straight bill. Prominent rufous wing and white outer rectrices in both sexes. Female with white throat and belly. Black-bellied Hummingbird similar but with black face and belly.

Personal Notes: Seen at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Long-billed Starthroat

Scientific Name: Heliomaster longirostris

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland moist forest from southern Mexico, through Central America, down through much of South America.

Field Notes: Hummingbird with long, straight bill. Back is mottled olive and white, buffy underparts. Facial pattern is distinctive with blue cap and pink throat, though color not apparent in photo above. White postocular spot distinguishes from Plain-capped Starthroat.

Personal Notes: Seen at Arenal Nayara Hotel, Costa Rica

Steely-vented Hummingird

Scientific Name: Amazilia saucerrottei

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Lowland dry shrubland in southern Central America and northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Small green hummingbird with short, thin bill. Coppery rump separates green back from steely blue tail. Sexes similar.

Personal Notes: Seen at Arenal Nayara Hotel, Costa Rica

Purple-throated Mountaingem

Scientific Name: Lampornis calolaemus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Tropical montane moist forest of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama

Field Notes: Small-sized green hummingbird with thin, straight bill. White post-ocular eye stripe in both sexes. Male with turquoise crown and violet throat. Female with tan throat and belly.

Personal Notes: Seen at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Green-crowned Brilliant

Scientific Name: Heliodoxa jacula

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Tropical montane moist forest from Costa Rica to western Ecuador.

Field Notes: Medium-sized hummingbird with relatively short bill. Male all green with violet throat patch, white postocular spot, steely grey wings. Female with green back, green and white spotted breast. White malar stripe distinguishes her from similar female hummingbirds. Juvenile has tan throat patch.

Personal Notes: Seen at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Green Violetear

Scientific Name: Colibri thalassinus

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical montane moist forest from south-central Mexico to western Panama and in the Andes from northern Venezuela to Bolivia.

Field Notes: Distinctive all green hummingbird with violet ear patch. Sexes similar.

Personal Notes: Seen at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Green Hermit

Scientific Name: Phaethornis guy

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Tropical most forest foothills and middle elevations from 500 to 2000m in Costa Rica, Panama, northeastern Venezuela and Trinidad, and the northern Andes to eastern Peru.

Field Notes: Large hummingbird with very long bill and long in whom white-tipped central rectrices and dark blue / green upperparts diagnostic. Black eye mask, bordered by white, common in hermits. Blue / green extend to underparts in male, but female has white underparts. Call when perched is a high-pitched bark.

Personal Notes: Seen at Arenal Hanging Bridges and Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica

Green-breasted Mango

Scientific Name: Anthracothorax prevostii

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland degraded former forest.

Field Notes: Hummingbird easily distinguished by median streak down the breast. In male this is dark blue / black on green. In the female, green bordered by white. The juvenile similar to female with additional rufous stripe laterally. May be confused with Rufous-tailed Hummingbird from the back, but breast is determinate.

Personal Notes: Seen at Arenal Nayara Hotel, Costa Rica and later in Cancun, Mexico.

Violet Sabrewing

Scientific Name: Campylopterus hemileucurus

Population Estimate: 50-500K

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical montane moist forest (primarily 1000-2400m) in Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Large hummingbird, male with distinctive violet / blue head, neck and chest. Extensive white on tips of outer rectrices of both sexes. Female largely green with white breast and small amount of violet on throat.

Personal Notes: Seen at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Amazilia tzacatl

Population Estimate: 500K-5M

Range / Habitat: Resident in southeast Mexico through Central America into northern South America. Habitat is subtropical and tropical lowland moist forest.

Field Notes: Rufous tail is a distinguishing feature with great head and back, white belly. Buff-bellied Hummingbird actually rufous on belly. Cinnamon Hummingbird rufous belly to chin.

Personal Notes: Seen at Chaa Creek Reserve, Belize.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Scientific Estimate: Archilochus Colubris

Population Estimate: 7M

Range / Habitat: Eastern America’s sole breeding hummingbird, the ruby-throated hummingbird is a migratory species that breeds in eastern North America, as far north as the southern limit of dense boreal forests, and winters in Central America, from south Sinaloa and south Veracruz, Mexico, to Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and, sometimes, extreme western Panama. It is also a regular winter visitor to central and southern Florida and the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas.

Field Notes: Iridescent green back, males with red throat which can appear dark depending on the light. This is the only hummingbird in the eastern US. The male is recognised by its iridescent, ruby red gorget, which covers the entire throat, and by its black face and chin and entirely dark, deeply-forked tail. The larger female and the immature bird lack the gorget, instead possessing a white chin and throat with variable amounts of thin, dark streaking, and have a dark, slightly-forked tail with white edging. All ruby-throated hummingbirds have a bright, metallic-green back and crown, which often appears darker on the males, and white underparts with greenish flanks. The plumage of the ruby-throated hummingbird, however, varies with the intensity of the light and, consequently, often appears almost black.

Personal Notes: Identification is easy in Minnesota, however, the above bird was in Costa Rica in early May, which complicated our ID at bit.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Archilochus Alexandri

Population Estimate: 2M

Range / Habitat: Winters along the west coast of Mexico in lowland moist forest. Summers in the western US. Their breeding habitat is open semi-arid areas near water in the western United States, northern Mexico and southern British Columbia.

Field Notes: Males (top photo) with black chin and just a flash of iridescent purple when seen from the right angle. Range overlaps with Broad-tailed Hummingbird (which has a stocky body with conspicuously large tail, males with rosy throat, and distinct loud hum), Calliope Hummingbird (very small hummingbird, males with unmistakable streaked rosy gorget), and Rufous Hummingbird (later migrant, males with rufous coloring). Females (bottom photo) are more difficult to distinguish but posture, size and lack of spotted checks are suggestive of a Black-chinned. A better look at the tail would be definitive.

Personal Notes: Though these photos where taken at feeders we also saw this delicate bird on a separate occasion, perched high on a bare branch

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Selasphorus Platycercus

Population Estimate: 4M

Range / Habitat: A bird of subalpine areas found year-round in the mountainous regions of central Mexico and summers in the Rockies.

Field Notes: Unfortunately, the above photo does not show the most distinctive features of this bird. In the right light the male has a rosy red chin with broad tail. The hum of the wings is also unique, quite loud. The photo does show the white line running from the chin to eye to neck. They also have which outer rectrices seen in flight. The Broad-tailed's range overlaps with the Black-chinned Hummingbird (which looks all black-headed), Calliope Hummingbird (very small hummingbird, males with unmistakable streaked rosy gorget), and Rufous Hummingbird (later migrant, males with rufous coloring).

Personal Notes: As with many hummingbirds, we have encountered the Broad-tailed away from feeders as well. They were just much harder to photograph in the "wild"!

Calliope Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Stellula Calliope

Population Estimate: 1M

Range / Habitat: Breed in shrubby, mountainous regions of western United States and into Canada. Migrate in winter to a relatively restricted area of southwestern Mexico.

Field Notes: Tiny hummingbird. Males with unmistakable streaked rosy gorget. Black-chinned Hummingbird and Broad-tailed Hummingbird overlap in range but are larger and males without shaggy gorget. These birds have glossy green on the back and crown with white underparts. Their bill and tail are relatively short. The adult male has wine-red streaks on the throat, green flanks and a dark tail. Females and immatures have a pinkish wash on the flanks, dark streaks on the throat and a dark tail with white tips.

Personal Notes: We saw this bird both "in the wild" (bottom photo) and at a feeder while in the Salt Lake City area.

Cinnamon Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Amazilia Rutila

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat:  It is found from northwestern Mexico to Costa Rica. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. Common in native Mexico to Central America.

Field Notes: The Cinnamon Hummingbird (Amazilia rutila) is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. Relatively large hummingbird that is mostly green above and rich cinnamon-orange below. Adult: Green cap and face. Dark eye and medium-length bright red, black-tipped bill. Green back and wing coverts. Green rump blending with cinnamon-rufous upper tail coverts. Dark wingtips. Bright cinnamon throat and underparts. White undertail coverts. Square tail. Dark cinnamon under and upper tail with black tips to tail-feathers. Juvenile: Paler than adult, with mostly dark upper mandible.

Personal Notes: