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

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe. 

Bulletin 235 - Costa Rica #13 - Hummers part 2

I started the Costa Rica bulletins with the hummingbirds part 1. I will end Costa Rica with hummingbirds part 2. They are certainly on of my favorite bird families.

The 5" White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a widespread hummer from Mexico to Amazonia. The male is easily IDed by the blue head, pure white belly and tail and a white collar.

White-necked Jacobin - male

Another common hummer is the 4" Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl). It has a range from Mexico to Ecuador. This is all green with a beige belly and bright rufous tail.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

A Costa Rican endemic is the 3" Coppery-headed Emerald (Elvira cupriceps). Here is the female. She is green with white underparts. The male would have a copper colored crown.

Coppery-headed Emerald

The male 4" Crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania columbica) is a beautiful bird with a green gorget, purple belly and green back. It comes in 2 color morphs. This northern one has a purple crown. The southern birds have a green crown. They were considered separate species previously.

Crowned Woodnymph - male

The 5" Green-breasted Mango (Anthracothorax prevostii) is readily IDed like most mangoes by the central black stripe on the underparts. The female has white on either side of the black stripe. The male would be all green on the underparts.

Green-breasted Mango - female

The male 5" Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula) is all green with a purple throat patch. The female is duller and lacks the purple patch.

Green-crowned Brilliant - male

I also saw the juvenile male of this species. He differs by having a rufous chin and stripe below eye.

Green-crowned Brilliant - juvenile male

There are 2 species of hummers of the selasphorus genus in Costa Rica, both resident in the mountains. This genus is well known in the USA by the Allen's, Rufous, Calliope and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. So one would expect to see some rufous on the birds. The male 3 " Volcano Hummingbird (Selasphorus flammula) ahs a purple-red gorget with the rufous speckling on the flanks.

Volcano Hummingbird - male

The very similar 3" male Scintillant Hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla) has an orange-red gorget. However, I just saw the female and she has a spotted throat, but the orange spots on the flanks indicate the genus.

Scintillant Hummingbird - female

The Green Thorntail (Discosura conversii) is a green hummer with a white band across the rump. The 4" male (not shown) has a long spiky tail. The female is just 3" and lacks the longer tail. She also has a white malar stripe.

Green Thorntail - female

The 5" male Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens) is well named. He has a purple crown, turquoise throat and green overall. Both the crown and gorget are iridescent and it is seldom that the angle is just right that they light up simultaneously, but I got him this time. This bird can also be found in SE Arizona.

Magnificent Hummingbird - male

Coquettes are tiny hummers in the genus lophornis. There are 10 species total and usually they have crests or plumes on the gorget. They are always on the 'wanted' list for birders. The 3" male Black-crested Coquette (Lophornis helenae) has black plumes on his crest and throat. His bill is red. It has a range from Mexico to Costa Rica and is in the mountains.

Black-crested Coquette - male

The last bird is probably the most amazingly colored hummer I have ever seen. The male 4" Fiery-throated Hummingbird (Panterpe insignis) is an endemic in Costa Rica and western Panama. It is found above 6000' in the mountains. I don't need to tell you how to ID this bird. See for yourself, there is nothing else like it. It is a monotypic genus.

Fiery-throated Hummingbird - male

Bird Families...I have grouped my photos online by country and/or trip report. I now have a substantial number of photos of birds in several of the families and I know sometimes you would just like to see more of them in 1 place.

So I have put together the first of these..the hummingbirds. There are 340+ species and I have now photos of 72. Click this link to take you to the gallery. Then you can hit ALL to see all the species or just click on the top left photo to  see the first photo and then click NEXT on the top or bottom right to scroll through. I have also put the scientific name and range of the bird below each photo. I will use the most colorful photo I have ...usually a male, but if I don't have that, then a female or juvenile.

Others in the works are tanagers, cardinals, woodpeckers, sandpipers etc. If you have a group you really like and and would like to see them, let me know. Currently I only have birds from the New World.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.