Scintillant Hummingbird

How to find it

Check flowering hedges such as rabo de gato (Stachytarpheta) and watch for a tiny bird. A Turrialba birder found one at a hedge that had also drawn a Black-crested Coquette. It sticks to hedgerows and other edge habitats at middle elevations, so look along field edges and hedges rather than in deep forest. In the breeding season, males sit on tall shrubs or trees overlooking open areas, often ones with Salvia flowers, so scan those lookout perches. Watch the bigger hummingbirds' territories too, since this bird often slips in to steal nectar.

How to recognise it

Size is the first clue: about 6.5 to 8 cm including the bill.

The adult male has a bright orange throat that no other hummingbird in its range shows. The throat is often not seen well, so size and tail colour matter.

The female has a speckled throat, orange on the flanks and a rufous tail. She also shows rufous on the breast.

Young birds look like the female but have rufous edges on the back feathers.

A Costa Rican birder named a lot of rufous in the tail as the most useful mark against the Volcano Hummingbird. Look for a tiny hummer with no white rump band, a white collar and a mostly rufous tail.

The adult male also has a sharply tapered outer wing feather.

Behaviour and diet

The Scintillant is feisty. It chases away other hummingbirds, especially other Scintillants and Volcano Hummingbirds. Yet it also slips into the territories of bigger, more dominant hummingbirds to steal nectar.

It prefers to catch insects in flight rather than pick them from foliage. In the breeding season, males perch openly and defend feeding territories with diving displays. Nesting is reported from September to February.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives at brushy forest edges, coffee plantations and sometimes gardens, at 900 to 2,000 m. Outside the breeding season it can go up to 2,500 m.

In Costa Rica it is found at middle elevations of the Central and Talamanca mountain ranges, and its usual range starts at about 700 m. A 2024 note in Zeledonia reports one far below that, at 79 m in Sarapiquí.

When to see it

After breeding it moves upslope, reaching about 2,400 to 2,500 m on volcanoes and upper slopes. Birds at higher sites may therefore be easier to find after the breeding season.

Similar birds

The Volcano Hummingbird is a near twin that replaces it at higher elevations, and at San Gerardo de Dota both may be possible. The Magenta-throated Woodstar is also tiny, but the Scintillant lacks the white patches on each side of the rump that the woodstar has. Small size, rufous tones and no white rump band rule out almost all other hummingbirds.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Spanish name used in Costa Rica is chispita gorginaranja. The two smallest hummingbirds are both called chispitas: this one is the chispita, and the Volcano Hummingbird is the chispita volcanera. In Panama the bird is called estrella centelleante.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident endemic (R-END), and its global conservation status is Least Concern.

Photography tips

Flowering hedges are the best bet, since the bird returns to them, and lookout perches over open areas suit breeding males. Turn so the light falls on the male's throat, because it can flash brightly against the warm cinnamon underparts when he turns into the light.