Black-bellied Hummingbird

How to find it

Look for females at shrub level along forest edges and gaps. Males spend most of their time in the canopy, so they are harder to see. It is most often seen along forest edges, clearings and stream corridors in humid foothill and cloud forest. Males sing from perches at the edge of forest gaps, so listen there for the thin sputtering warble. Feeder stops are the easy way to get a good look.

How to recognise it

Males have black underparts that continue up the face to the forecrown. The back is mostly bronzy green.

The male's undertail covert area and outer tail feathers are white. The central tail feathers are dull black with a bronze gloss. The wing bends are rusty.

Females are green above and light gray below, without the male's black.

Both sexes are very small, about 8 cm long and about 3.4 g in weight, so size is a useful first clue when a hummingbird zips into view at a feeder.

Behaviour and diet

It is solitary. Males feed on flowers of canopy trees and on epiphytes, and may defend canopy flowers not held by the larger Purple-throated Mountain-gem.

Females drop to shrub level along edges and clearings to visit flowers. The species makes altitudinal movements within Costa Rica.

At feeders, bird baths and fountains it sips while hovering or perched and stays only a moment.

Where it lives

It lives in cool, wet forest on the Caribbean side of the Central and Talamanca ranges. It also uses bordering shaded pastures and coffee plantations in the highlands.

It breeds between 900 and 2000 m. After nesting, birds may move downslope to about 600 m, and only rarely go lower.

Photo records place it at Cataratas de La Paz and Cinchona in Alajuela, and in Tapantí National Park in Cartago.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica runs mostly from October to March, and it can start as early as July.

Similar birds

The male's velvet black face, throat and belly with pale undertail feathers set him apart. The female is green above and paler below, without the male's black, so check for the very small size and the light gray underparts.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican Spanish names listed for this bird are Colibrí Pechinegro and Colibrí pechinero. Other Spanish names are Colibrí Ventrinegro and Colibrí de Vientre Negro.

Status and conservation

The AOCR lists it as R-END, a resident endemic, and the IUCN rates it Least Concern, though its range is fairly small.

Photography tips

Feeder stops are the easy way to photograph it, and birders have recorded it at the feeders at La Paz Waterfall Gardens and at the Cinchona hummingbird gallery. Females are more likely to be found low, in the understory along edges or forest gaps, which gives a better chance of eye-level photos than the canopy-loving males.