Blue-chested Hummingbird

How to find it

Check forest edges, clearings and gardens with flowering trees rather than the dark interior of the forest. Flowering shrubs and garden plantings are good places to wait. At La Selva, local guides often know of one or two roosting birds, which can give a close look. A flowering tree may draw several birds at once, so watch for chasing. In the Caribbean lowlands, a small, plain, grayish hummingbird with a grayish tail is probably this species.

How to recognise it

The male is easy to learn:

Bright green crown and back.

Glittering blue-violet throat and chest.

Pale grayish belly.

Straight black bill, with a pinkish base to the lower half.

The female has no solid blue chest. Her underparts are whitish or gray with green spots, and her tail is dark.

It is a small hummingbird, about 8.5 to 8.9 cm long and roughly 4 g. Males can look like females because of gray edges on the underparts, so a plain-looking bird deserves a second look.

What it sounds like

Recording: Roger A. Morales-Flores, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It usually feeds alone at low flowers along forest edges and catches insects from leaves. Sometimes several gather at a flowering tree and chase other hummingbirds.

It feeds by trap-lining, visiting a route of flowers, and also defends feeding territories where nectar is scarce. These are often on forest borders with scattered flowers.

It is usually more common in open areas and avoids the inside of dense forest.

Where it lives

It lives in humid lowland and foothill forest, forest edges, second growth, plantations and rural gardens. Elevation is mostly from sea level to about 900 m, locally to about 1,200 m.

In Costa Rica it is a Caribbean slope bird. It is listed as fairly common in the Caribbean lowlands, and records also come from the central and northern part of the country.

When to see it

Breeding is given as February to May. A nest in Costa Rica was found 2 to 5 m up, and nests elsewhere sit about 2 m up on a low horizontal branch at the forest edge.

Similar birds

The Charming Hummingbird is a separate species in the same genus and also occurs in Costa Rica and Panama. It is the Pacific slope bird, while the Blue-chested is the Caribbean slope bird. The Chocoan Amazilia looks very similar but does not occur in Costa Rica.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The name on the Costa Rican list is Colibrí Pechiazul. Other Spanish names are Amazilia Pechiazul, Amazilia Amable and Diamante de Collar Azul. The Latin name amabilis means lovable or lovely, and the genus name Polyerata comes from Greek words meaning very adorable.

Status and conservation

It is a resident (R) on the AOCR list and rated Least Concern by the IUCN, though the population is thought to be decreasing.

Photography tips

Wait at flowering shrubs and garden plantings, where one posed for a photo at a rainforest hummingbird garden. Forest edges, clearings and gardens with flowering trees work better than dense forest. At La Selva, a roosting bird pointed out by a local guide can give a close look.