Green Hermit

How to find it

Search shaded vegetation, not just open hummingbird feeders. It is not easy to see away from feeders, because it often flies fast through the forest understory and only occasionally stops at flowers. It also visits feeders at the forest edge. In Monteverde, early morning and patient watching near flowering plants give the best chance, as it can be hard to see in dark undergrowth. At the Monteverde Hummingbird Gallery, a male and a female visited several times, never together, and did not land on the feeders. They hovered back and forth and fed on the wing.

How to recognise it

Males are mostly dark green with a blue-green rump. A dark eye mask carries buff stripes above and below it. The bill is long, curved downward and reddish.

Males also have short, white-tipped central tail feathers, which they wiggle in display.

Females are sooty gray below instead of green. They have a longer bill and a much longer tail than males.

At about 15 cm it is one of the largest hummingbirds in Costa Rica, so size helps when you sort it from smaller species at a feeder. It is the only hermit with iridescent green upperparts and blue-gray underparts.

What it sounds like

Recording: Andre Knocklein, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Green Hermit is one of few hummingbirds that visit wild flowers in the lower layers of primary forest. On hot days it dives fully into puddles to bathe. It also takes some small insects.

Four to twenty males gather at a lek and sing a repeated 'swark' day after day. Each male has two or three song perches, between 0.6 and 3 m up. At feeders it can bully smaller hummingbirds away from its preferred flowers, and its flight is fast and direct.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives in the middle and upper elevations on both slopes. It is seen in gardens, parks, pastures, and both primary and secondary forest.

Across its range it is mainly found in humid mountain forest understory and cacao plantations at 900 to 2000 m. Young birds drop as low as 500 m after breeding. It favours forest undergrowth, usually near water, and prefers hilly areas.

When to see it

It is a resident, so it can be looked for at any time of year. Sightings are not guaranteed.

Similar birds

Compare it with the Tawny-bellied Hermit. Among Costa Rican hermits, the Stripe-throated Hermit is the smallest and lives in the lowlands of both slopes. The Green Hermit is larger and reaches middle elevations, up to about 2000 m.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Ermitaño Verde is the Spanish name used for this bird in Costa Rica. One natural history page calls it 'colibrí ermitaño verde', and the first word means hummingbird.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and it is rated Least Concern.

Photography tips

Look in shaded forest, streamside vegetation and dense undergrowth, as it is not usually found in open sunny gardens. Because it follows a trap-line, waiting at a good flowering plant can work.