Magenta-throated Woodstar

How to find it

Look low near small flowers in shaded forest areas. Check small roadside flowers, especially composites, and gardens with salvias and other tubular flowers. It is territorial and often visits Lobelia, Inga (guaba) and Quararibea flowers. Scan open areas such as scrubby regrowth and forest edge. Males often perch in the open on exposed twigs at the edge of their territory, so watch the twigs as well as the flowers. Because many highland hummingbirds follow flowering up and down the slopes, be ready to look at different elevations.

How to recognise it

Start with size: the male is about 9 cm long and weighs about 3.3 g.

The male has these marks:

- a purple throat, separated from the green chest by a white collar

- a reddish belly

- a black, long, forked tail

The female is smaller, with a pale grey-buff throat and reddish sides to the tail.

Both sexes have two white patches on the sides of the rump. Only the male has the purple throat and the much longer tail.

When feeding, the male hangs in the air with his tail held closed and upright. Its flight looks like a bumblebee's, which helps pick it out from other small hummingbirds.

Behaviour and diet

This is a small, quick bird that zips between flower patches looking for nectar. It is territorial, and males often perch in the open on exposed twigs at the edge of their territory. Males perform diving display flights, alone or in loose groups, and the display looks like a show of diving. Females at flowers are small and quiet by comparison. In Costa Rica the breeding season runs from November to March or April. Many highland hummingbirds also move up and down the mountains to follow flowering.

Where it lives

It lives at forest edges and in scrub, clearings, thinned forest, regrowth, gardens, shade coffee and flowery pastures. A Costa Rican journal paper gives the usual elevation range as about 700 to 1,800 m, and a Spanish source gives 700 to 1,850 m. One site gives roughly 800 to 3,000 m, so sources differ. It occasionally drops to about 400 m on the Caribbean slope. In Costa Rica it ranges from the Guanacaste volcanic range south to the Talamanca range, mostly on the Pacific slope, and on into western Panama.

When to see it

One source says early morning, roughly 6 to 9 AM, is the most active time, and that November to February is best, when males are displaying.

Similar birds

The Scintillant Hummingbird is also tiny and shares its range. It is Costa Rica's smallest, at about 2 g, and the male has an orange throat. The best clue is that the Scintillant lacks the white patches on each side of the rump that the woodstar has.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the official Spanish name is Colibrí Estrellita Gorgimorada, often shortened to Estrellita Gorgimorada. In Panama it is called Estrella Gorguimorada, and some Spanish sources simply call it Colibrí Magenta.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident endemic (R-END), and the IUCN first rated it Near Threatened but has listed it as Least Concern since 2004.

Photography tips

Males perch in the open on exposed twigs at the edge of their territory, which gives photographers a chance for a clear shot. Look for them at small roadside flowers and gardens with salvias. Feeder galleries such as the Monteverde Hummingbird Gallery have produced photos of flying males, and feeders may be an easier setting than chasing this tiny bird in the wild.