Costa Rican Hummingbirds

Fiery-throated Hummingbird (Panterpe insignis).
Savegre Valley, Costa Rica. 

Hummingbirds abound in superlatives.  They are the smallest of all birds, they have the highest metabolic rate of any warm-blooded animal and they are counted among the most colorful creatures on the planet.  Hummingbirds are found only in the New World.  There are 366 species of hummingbirds, but the United States has only 15 species.  The diversity is much higher in Central and South America with Ecuador hosting an astonishing 132 species. 

As with many birds, the male hummingbirds typically have much brighter plumage than the females.  The males use their brilliantly colored feathers to attract females and warn off other males from their territories.

The color of hummingbird feathers can change before your eyes.  A male hummingbird with a black throat can turn its head and flash a brilliant red.  These changeable colors are not due to pigments but from the fine internal structure of the feathers.  Structural color is caused by light refraction and usually requires viewing from a particular angle to be seen.  This is why hummingbird color seems to appear then disappear just as quickly. 

The brilliant colors we see on hummingbirds is not how the birds see themselves.  Bird’s visual systems can discern all the colors we can see but they can also detect the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.  Humans have three types of color detecting cells in their retina called cones.  One type of cone is sensitive to red, another cone detects green and a third type is tuned to blue wavelengths.  Birds have these three kinds of cones, but they also have a fourth type of cone that detects ultraviolet radiation.  So, birds, including hummingbirds, experience the brilliant colors produced by their feathers in ways we can only imagine, combining the iridescent structural colors with ultraviolet radiation.  

Lesser Violetear (Colibri cyanotus) in a rainshower.
Savegre Valley, Costa Rica.

On a recent trip to Costa Rica, we saw some of these colorful hummingbirds.  One of our stops was Batsu Garden in the Savegre Valley of the Talamanca Mountains.  This garden is planted with hummingbird friendly flowers and feeders.  Here we found the beautiful Lesser Violetear (Colibri cyanotus). These birds are brilliant green with patches of iridescent purple feathers covering their ears.  Lesser Violetears are found high in the mountains of Central America and the Andes of South America.  

Brown Violetear (Colibri delphinae).
Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica. 

Brown Violetear showing its iridescent green throat patch.
Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica.

Brown Violetears (Colibri delphinae) are close relatives of Lesser Violetears but with muted brown feathers over most of their bodies and violet on their ears.  But Brown Violetears have a surprise.  When seen at just the right angle their throat feathers flash brilliant green.  Brown Violetears have a similar range to that of Lesser Violetears.  

Female Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula).
Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica. 

Green-crowned Brilliants (Heliodoxa jacula) are also found in the mountains of Costa Rica and range south to Colombia and Ecuador.  We saw a nice female with her throat and breast spangled with sparkling green feathers.  

Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica).
Guayabo National Monument, Costa Rica. 

On the Caribbean side of the mountains, we visited the Guayabo National Monument.  The monument is a pre-Colombian archaeological site with foundations of buildings, aqueducts, roads and tombs. In the rainforest near the ruins, we found a single Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica).  These dark hummingbirds are violet and bright green. They live throughout most of Central America and south to Ecuador.  

Talamanca Hummingbird (Eugenes spectabilis)
looking dull.
Savegre Valley, Costa Rica.

Talamanca Hummingbird. The same bird as above
showing bright color on its throat.
Savegre Valley, Costa Rica. 

Talamanca Hummingbirds (Eugenes spectabilis) are restricted to the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, and we saw them throughout the highlands.  It is one of the largest hummingbirds in Central America.  Talamanca Hummingbirds have green bodies and their heads and throats appear black. But if the bird turns its head in just the right way the throat flashes blue and the crown of the head purple.  The Talamanca Hummingbird was once classified as a subspecies of the Magnificent Hummingbird.  This species was split in 2017 into Rivoli’s Hummingbird that ranges from Nicaragua to the mountains of southern Arizona, and the Talamanca Hummingbird.  You can truly say the Talamanca Hummingbird was magnificent.   

Fiery-throated Hummingbird showing
relatively subdued colors.
Savegre Valley, Costa Rica. 

Fiery-throated Hummingbird flashing
brilliant, iridescent colors on its throat and crown.
Savegre Valley, Costa Rica. 

Perhaps the most spectacular hummer we encountered was the Fiery-throated Hummingbird (Panterpe insignis).  This green hummingbird looks rather plain until turns its head and looks directly at you.  Then the throat lights up blue, gold, orange and green while the crown of the head flashes purple.  The Fiery-throated Hummingbird is another species restricted to the higher elevations of eastern Costa Rica and western Panama. 

Hummingbirds are tiny avian jewels.  With their stunning speed, superhero senses and brilliant flashes of color, hummingbirds dazzle wherever we encounter them.  At our home in North Carolina, we are lucky to have a single species, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). But going south to the tropics we experienced some of the stunning diversity of hummingbirds.    

Thanks to Paul, Amanda and Richard Laurent of Epic Nature Tours for planning and leading us on this wonderful trip to see the bird life of Costa Rica.