Bulletin 264 - Costa Rica 2016 #8 - hummingbirds

Of course I had to take some hummingbird photos as they are my favorites along with the owls. The 3" Coppery-headed Emerald (Elvira cupriceps) is a Costa Rica endemic. The male has the copper colored head and white lateral tail feathers.

Coppery-headed Emerald - male

The same genus is the 3" White-tailed Emerald (Elvira chionura). The female is green above and white below with green spots on breast. The male would have a solid green breast.

White-tailed Emerald - female

The 4" male Magenta-throated Woodstar (Calliphlox bryantae) has a magenta throat and distinctive white patches on the sides of his rump.

Magenta-throated Woodstar - male

The lampornis genus are hummers called mountain-gems. There are 4 species in Costa Rica and I got 3 on this trip. They all have a vertical white stripe behind the eye.I had missed the 4" White-bellied Mountain-gem (Lampornis hemileucus) last year, but got it on a feeder this time. The male has a purple throat. It is listed as uncommon and is endemic to Costa Rica and western Panama

White-bellied Mountain-gem - male

This 4" male Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaemus) had flown into a window as we were watching other birds. the guide picked it up and put it on a branch where he recovered and flew away.

Purple-throated Mountain-gem

The 4" male White-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis castaneoventris) is all green with a white throat and the white line behind the eye. This is probably a juvenile male as he doesn't have a completely white throat.

White-throated Mountain-gem - juvenile male

The 5" Scaly-breasted Hummingbird (Phaeochroa cuvierii) is a drab green and gray hummer with white tips on the tail.

Scaly-breasted Hummingbird

The last is another drab hummer, the 4" Steely-vented Hummingbird (Amazilia saucerrottei). He has the typical red bill of an amazilia.

Steely-vented Hummingbird

After 2 trips, I have now photographed 40 of the 50 species of hummingbirds in the Costa Rica guide book. So I still have some work to do. :)

I was just updating my master list and discovered that the Magnificent Hummingbird has been split (IOC) as of July 2015. The birds from sw USA to Nicaragua are now called Rivoli's  Hummingbird, but the larger birds from Costa Rica to Panama are now Admirable Hummingbird (Eugenes spectabilis). Fortunately, I have photographs from each area. So let me introduce the newest hummingbird.

Admirable Hummingbird - male

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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