Blue-vented Hummingbird

How to find it

Check semi-open places such as scrub, savanna, forest edges and gardens. Watch flowering plants in those spots, since the bird is usually feeding alone at blooms. Give it a moment: when it flicks or fans its tail, the dark blue shows clearly. Small size plus that blue tail is a strong clue in the northwest and centre. Home and lodge-style gardens in the Central Valley are a good place to start, and one Atenas resident has had a blue-tailed bird around their garden since moving there.

How to recognise it

This is a small hummingbird, about 8 to 11 cm long and about 4.5 g.

The underparts are glittering golden-green. The undertail coverts are greenish to steel blue, and the tail is pale steel blue and slightly forked. When the bird flicks or fans its tail, the dark blue shows clearly.

A copper-colored rump and no rufous flash in the wings help separate it from similar Costa Rican hummingbirds.

Females look like males but are duller green on the lower breast and belly. Their vent feathers have grayish-buff edges.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually seen feeding alone, at flowers along forest edges, in shrubby second growth and in gardens. It visits many kinds of blossom, including epiphytes and Heliconias. Both sexes are aggressive and defend favoured feeding areas, so birds that meet at a favoured flower chase off rivals with surprising agility. That description comes from the Steely-vented complex, which formerly included this bird.

The breeding season in Costa Rica appears to run at least from December to April. The cup nest is made of plant down and cobweb, with lichen outside. Nests have been found on a dead Cecropia branch and on a Ficus vine.

Where it lives

It lives in semi-open country: scrub, savanna, forest edges, secondary forest and gardens. It prefers fairly dry habitats but moves into moister areas in the dry season. Across its range it occurs from sea level up to about 1,800 m (5,900 ft) at most.

In Costa Rica it has been recorded in the northwest, on the lower slopes of Miravalles Volcano and at Palo Verde National Park, where one was photographed on a February 2009 visit. It also occurs in the Central Valley, including a garden in Atenas, and Cloudbridge Nature Reserve lists it on its bird list.

When to see it

It usually favours dryish habitat, but in the dry season it turns up in moister areas. That makes the dry season a good time to check damper spots such as forest edges.

Similar birds

It was long treated as a form of the Steely-vented Hummingbird, but Costa Rica's list now treats it as a separate species, closer to the Blue-tailed Hummingbird group. A garden observer in Atenas noted it is larger than the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, with a deep blue tail. The copper-colored rump and the lack of rufous in the wings also help.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican Spanish names include Colibrí Vientriazul, Amazilia Vientriazul and Gurrión, and some texts also call it Amazilia Azul. The scientific name honors Karl Hoffmann, a German naturalist who collected a great deal in Costa Rica.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rica bird list gives it resident status (R), and it is fairly common in suitable habitat.

Photography tips

Look for it feeding alone at flowers along forest edges, in shrubby second growth and in gardens, and watch flowering plants there. Wait for the tail to flick or fan, when the dark blue shows clearly.