Charming Hummingbird

How to find it

Look low, at forest borders, in shrubs and in gardens, and keep your eyes at shrub height rather than in the canopy. Flowering shrubs and heliconias near clearings are good places to wait. The zone between gardens and primary forest is also worth a slow scan. Heliconia gardens are places where visitors can watch it feed. A group of singing males in one spot can be a clue to a lek. Because it comes and goes, return to a good patch more than once.

How to recognise it

This is a medium-small, dark hummingbird about 9 cm long, with a fairly long bill and no striking pattern. It rewards a careful look rather than a quick glance.

The male has a shiny blue-green crown and a violet-blue lower throat and chest. His belly is buffy gray.

The female has a duller crown and a pale gray throat and chest covered in many green and blue spots. Her bill is black, with a pink base on the lower half.

When the plumage is subdued, check the bill length and the colour of the throat and chest.

What it sounds like

Recording: llreletll, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Charming Hummingbird visits scattered flowers, picks insects off foliage and defends flower territories. One birder watched a male guarding his heliconia patch in rainforest.

It is mostly solitary, but males gather to sing in small groups called leks, which can hold up to 12 birds. In the display, males make steep climbs followed by fast dives, with calls.

Nests are deep cups of plant down, fibers and spider webs, set 2 to 4 m up on a horizontal branch. Breeding is given as December to January and May to July or August.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is a resident of the lowlands, slopes and valleys of the southern Pacific side. It ranges north to about Carara Biological Reserve, from sea level up locally to near 1,200 m, for example the Coto Brus valley near San Vito.

It likes open groves, coffee farms, second growth and gardens with scattered trees. In wooded areas it stays at edges, along streams and rivers, and in clearings, and it tends to avoid the interior of dense forest. One adult male was recorded near Drake Bay at 25 m elevation.

When to see it

Peak display season for males is given as December through March. Breeding is given as December to January and May to July or August.

Similar birds

The close lookalike is the Blue-chested Hummingbird of the Caribbean slope, once treated as the same species. The Charming has a longer bill and wings, duller colour overall and more green on the head. Its song also differs, since the Blue-chested's is slower, less tinny and often simpler.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the Spanish name is Colibrí Corona de Berilo, and Gurrión is also used. Other Spanish names listed are Amazilia encantadora and Amazilia corona de berilo, and in Panama it is called Amazilia hermosa. English field guides also call it Beryl-crowned Hummingbird, the name the Stiles and Skutch guide used, and the newer Birds of Costa Rica guide lists both names.

Status and conservation

It is a resident endemic (R-END) on the AOCR list, rated Least Concern, though its numbers vary a lot and it is only irregularly common.

Photography tips

Look for it low, at forest borders, in shrubs and in gardens. The zone between gardens and primary forest is a good place to set up, and a heliconia patch is a likely perch for a defending male.