Canivet's Emerald

How to find it

Listen first. Males sing again and again from low perches in thickets along forest and scrub edges, so a singer at an edge is a good way to locate one. Look along roadsides, forest borders, scrubby savannas and gardens with flowering shrubs and small trees. Check flowering shrubs for a small bird working a route of scattered blooms, and watch for a wagging, partly open tail. Females are easy to overlook, so scan carefully through the hummingbirds you do find. A guided roadside walk near Caldera, where dry forest meets mangroves, found one in January 2025.

How to recognise it

The male is a tiny, glittering green hummingbird, about 8 to 9 cm long and roughly 2 to 3 g. Look for:

- a red bill with a black tip

- white thigh tufts

- a long, forked blue-black tail

The female is bright green above and light gray below. She has a dark cheek and a pale stripe behind the eye. Her tail is less forked, with white tips on the outer feathers.

The Costa Rican salvini male differs from the nominate form. Its upper bill is dusky rather than red, and the central tail feathers have dark sooty gray tips.

Behaviour and diet

This hummingbird visits a circuit of flowering plants, a habit called trap-lining, and does not defend a feeding territory. It often uses small flowers that other hummingbirds ignore. It feeds from near the ground up to mid-height in vegetation, holding its tail partly open and wagging it while it feeds. It also eats small arthropods. Males sing again and again from low perches in thickets along forest and scrub edges. In aggressive encounters, and perhaps courtship, they make a shallow dive display that ends with a dry sputtering sound at the bottom.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica the salvini form lives on the Pacific side of the northwest, mainly in the highlands of that slope. It occurs only up to about 1,500 m in the country, while elsewhere in its range it reaches roughly 1,900 m. Across its range it favours dry to semi-humid, semi-open country: forest edges and clearings, secondary forest, scrubby savanna and gardens. A record from Playa Real, in Guanacaste, is also listed for Costa Rica.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica runs from November to March or April. The nest is a small cup of plant fibres and down, placed 1 to 3 m above the ground.

Similar birds

It looks almost identical to the Garden Emerald, which has an all-black bill, while Canivet's has a red base to the bill. Their ranges do not overlap. A Costa Rica garden owner was first offered Garden Emerald for a female, but rejected it because that species was not mapped for his area and the bird lacked its glittering green.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR Spanish name is Esmeralda Rabihorcada, a name used in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Other Spanish names are esmeralda tijereta (Honduras, Mexico) and esmeralda de Canivet.

Status and conservation

The AOCR lists it as a resident species in Costa Rica, and the IUCN rates it Least Concern, with a very large range and a stable population.

Photography tips

The male is often secretive despite his bright plumage and long tail, so patience at a flowering shrub or a singing perch pays off. Look for the tail held partly open and wagging while it feeds. The duller female is easily overlooked.