Green-crowned Brilliant

How to find it

Feeders and flowering gardens near forest are the easiest places to see it. Because it often perches to feed, look for a large hummingbird sitting at a flower or feeder. Forest trails and clearings in cloud forest are also worth checking, especially around flowering plants where hummingbirds gather. A Costa Rican tour site says it is common along mid-elevation trails where Inga trees bloom. It tends to be most active in early morning after sunrise and again in late afternoon, following set routes between flowering plants.

How to recognise it

Males are glittering green on the crown, throat and breast, with a small violet-blue throat patch. They also show:

A white spot behind the eye.

White thighs.

A long, deeply forked blue-black tail.

The male weighs about 9.5 g and the female about 8 g.

Females have a whitish chest and belly heavily spotted with green, a white spot behind the eye and a pale stripe below it. Their tail is black, only slightly forked, with small white tips on the outer feathers.

Young birds look like adults of the same sex but duller and bronzy below. Young males have a dull crown and a buff throat.

Costa Rican birds (subspecies henryi) are larger than the nominate form. Males have a more brilliant head glitter and greener plumage with little or no blue. Females have more white below, with green spots reaching the flanks.

Behaviour and diet

It feeds mostly on nectar from Marcgravia vines, plus Heliconia and other large flowers. It usually clings to the flower or perches to feed rather than hovering. It also catches small insects in flight or among foliage.

It usually forages in the middle and upper levels of the forest. Birds are territorial around large flowering plants, and males sometimes defend Marcgravia patches. Males also trap-line, visiting a circuit of flowering plants.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it generally lives between about 700 and 2,200 m, in humid montane and submontane forest, forest edges, clearings, mature second growth and gardens. It is sometimes found as low as 100 m.

Outside the breeding season it moves down to about 100 m, so low-elevation records may reflect seasonal movements. It is mostly on the Caribbean slope, but also lives locally on the Pacific side in the northern ranges, Talamanca and the southern Pacific foothills.

When to see it

One Costa Rican tour site says it can be seen all year, and that the rainy season may bring more active feeding. Nesting is thought to run from July or August to January.

Similar birds

A female or young male seen at a feeder can be told by the shimmering green crown, green-flecked grayish-white underparts, and dark tail with white tips on the outer feathers. At feeders near Cinchona and Poas it shares the stage with Violet Sabrewing, Green Violetear, Green Thorntail, White-bellied Mountain-gem and Purple-throated Mountain-gem, so its size and green-spotted underparts help sort it out.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican sources list several Spanish names besides the AOCR name Colibrí Brillante Frentiverde, including 'brillante frentiverde', 'colibrí' and 'gorrión'. Other countries say 'brillante coroniverde' (Panama and Ecuador) and 'diamante frentiverde' (Colombia).

Status and conservation

The AOCR lists it as a resident (R), fairly common in Costa Rica, and the IUCN rates it Least Concern.

Photography tips

Because it clings to flowers while feeding instead of hovering, it gives photographers a better chance of sharp images. A Costa Rican guide says the blue throat patch changes with the angle of the light. Hummingbirds are most active from about 6:00 to 8:30 AM and from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, and activity drops at midday.