Stripe-tailed Hummingbird

How to find it

Walk forest trails in the foothills and highlands, where visitors often meet it. Watch the flowers of trees, shrubs and epiphytes, where it hovers for nectar. Look up into the canopy, but also check lower levels along edges and in semi-open areas. Listen for the squeaky song and the sharp 'peet' call. Hummingbird feeders in an outdoor garden at Monteverde give close views, and a rusty blur in the wing of a hovering green hummingbird is your best clue.

How to recognise it

This is a small hummingbird, about 9 to 10.5 cm long and roughly 4 to 4.5 g.

Males: metallic green upperparts turning bronze toward the rump and tail, a straight black bill, and a rufous wing patch that shows when the wings are folded.

Females: metallic green back, with light brownish grey underparts and face sides, and less white in the tail than males.

Both sexes: a bright rusty panel in the wing that looks like a blur when the bird hovers.

Tail: black outer edges, white inner edges and broad black tips on the outer feathers, giving the stripes when the tail is spread.

Behaviour and diet

It visits the flowers of trees, shrubs and epiphytes for nectar, moving quickly between blooms. It feeds mainly in the canopy but drops to shrub level at times, along edges and in semi-open or second growth areas.

Visitors describe it hovering at flowers, zipping through the canopy, or defending its patch from rivals. Males are aggressive and territorial, and they fan out the striped tail both when singing and when ready for a fight.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it ranges from about 300 m up to 2,450 m, though most birds occur between 800 and 2,000 m. It lives on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes, and it also occurs in western Panama.

Across its range it mostly uses foothill and lower mountain forest and nearby clearings. It prefers wet forest, and it favours humid evergreen forest and shade coffee plantations.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica runs from September to April. That is a different season from Mexico, where the species breeds from April to August.

Similar birds

The challenge is separating it from other green hummingbirds. The bright rusty panel in the wing, present in both sexes and blurring when the bird hovers, is the quickest way to pick it out. When the tail opens, the white stripes confirm it.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica it is the Colibrí Colirrayado. Other Spanish names listed for the species elsewhere include Colibrí Cola Rayada and Colibrí de Cola Rayada.

Status and conservation

The AOCR lists it as a resident (R), and the IUCN rates it Least Concern, with no immediate threats identified.

Photography tips

In Monteverde one visitor found a bird perched in a cool, shady spot, and it later moved to flowers, where the open tail briefly showed its white stripes. Flowers and feeders are good places to wait for that moment. Females are sometimes seen in very shaded parts of the forest understory, and birds away from the forest interior also drop to lower levels.