Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer

How to find it

Look for single birds at flowers along forest edges, especially in Heliconia patches. It also visits garden flowers and feeders near forest. One tour group missed it in the forest near their lodge, then had repeated views at the feeders of a home sanctuary near Guápiles. Birds there were more cooperative than those at heliconias in La Virgen. At a Turrialba-area lodge, plumeleteers hang around hummingbird feeders and banana feeding stations. Listen as well as look, since the birds are easier to hear than to see.

How to recognise it

Think large, dark and robust. This is a heavy-looking hummingbird, about 11 cm long, with a long, broad tail. Males weigh about 7 g and females about 6 g.

The feet are the standout mark: obvious red or pink on both sexes, so the legs show clearly on a perched or hovering bird.

Males look dark, blue-green and blackish in low light, with a black bill. The base of the lower bill is dull pink. Costa Rican males have a purplish-black tail.

Females look quite different. They have a white throat and underparts, gray below with green flecks on the sides, and dull gray tips on the outer tail feathers.

Behaviour and diet

At flowers this hummingbird is aggressive and dominant. Males set up territories in big patches of Cephaelis or Heliconia, and females sometimes enter the territories of other species.

It feeds mostly from the understory to mid-levels. Besides nectar it eats many small wasps and other small arthropods, catching them mainly by hawking from a perch and sometimes by gleaning from leaves. At feeders near forest it chases and jousts with other hummingbirds.

Where it lives

It lives in humid forest interiors and edges, mature second growth, and semi-open places such as banana plantations and gardens. It avoids open areas. In forest regions it prefers edges, stream banks, clearings and shaded second growth.

In Costa Rica it ranges from sea level to 700 m, mainly in the Caribbean lowlands and foothills. It is absent from the drier lowlands south of Lake Nicaragua. One Spanish-language source adds that it also occurs on the Pacific side of the Guanacaste volcanic range, up to 900 m.

When to see it

In Costa Rica it breeds from December to June, mostly February to April. The birds make local seasonal movements, probably following flowering plants.

Similar birds

It looks much like other green hummingbirds such as Steely-vented. The red feet and bronzy rump help separate it. Females, with their white throat and underparts, look quite different from the dark males, so do not expect the two sexes to match.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the Spanish name is Colibrí Patirrojo. Other Spanish names include colibrí colibronceado and calzonario patas rojas, and another Costa Rican guide lists colibrí, gorrión and colibrí patirrojo. Stiles' account records plant names for its food flowers: "labios de puta" for Cephaelis elata and "platanillas" for Heliconia.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list gives it as a resident (R) in Costa Rica, and IUCN rates it Least Concern, though the population is believed to be decreasing.

Photography tips

Heliconia patches on forest edges and feeders near forest are the places to set up. Feeders gave one tour group repeated views after the forest had given none. Watch for chases, since males guard flower patches. The red feet show clearly on a perched or hovering bird.