White-bellied Emerald

How to find it

Treat any sighting as a bonus rather than a plan. Check hummingbirds working flowering Stachytarpheta and canna (caña india), where Costa Rican birds were photographed feeding. Look at every small hummingbird for a white belly and a reddish lower bill together. Mexican sources say activity peaks in the first hour after dawn and again in the last three hours before sunset. Males sing from low perches in dense vegetation, so listen for thin, shrill chips.

How to recognise it

This is a small hummingbird, green above and clean white below. The crown and back are emerald green.

The key mark is the bill: a pink or reddish lower bill with a dark upper bill. A Mexican government summary describes it as short, with the dark upper bill tipped black.

One Costa Rican observer described a bird slightly smaller than a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. It had a green back, white underparts and a reddish lower bill, with red at the base of the upper bill.

Both sexes look alike and lack the shimmering colour of most hummingbirds. Experienced birders can miss it at first glance. Immatures look like females but have a greyish belly. The white belly together with the reddish lower bill is what settles the identification.

Behaviour and diet

It feeds mainly on nectar, plus some insects taken from foliage. It often feeds low but will also forage up into the canopy.

Males sing from low perches in dense vegetation. In Costa Rica, one bird was photographed feeding on flowers beside other hummingbirds, and the observer noted seeing it for the second time that day. Another was filmed taking nectar from Stachytarpheta flowers.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives in lowland evergreen and semi-deciduous forest, inside and at the edges, from sea level up to about 1,600 m.

In Costa Rica the recent records are in the north: the Naranjo area and northern Alajuela province, and Boca Tapada in the northern lowlands. Old specimens came from different parts of the country, including San José and San Pedro. Wanderers have been cited as high as 3000 m, and in records up to at least 1850 m, far above its usual lowland range.

When to see it

The Boca Tapada photographs were taken on 21 May 2024, on a second attempt after an earlier try. One older record from Monteverde is dated 14 March 2004.

Similar birds

It can resemble Azure-crowned Hummingbird, but it is smaller and all white below. Many females of other hummingbirds have a whitish belly or a pink lower bill. They seldom show both marks together, as this species does.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican Spanish names are Colibrí Pechiblanco and Amazilia Pechiblanca, and the official list adds the nickname Gurrión. Costa Ricans casually call many small hummingbirds 'gorrión', including the genus Chlorestes, although the bird association reserves that word for the House Sparrow, which Ticos call 'electricista'.

Status and conservation

The official list (AOCR, updated June 2026) marks it R?, and Avibase lists it as rare or accidental for Costa Rica.

Photography tips

Focus on flowering Stachytarpheta and canna, where the Costa Rican photographs were made. Males sing from low perches in dense vegetation, so scan low as well as high. Mexican sources say activity peaks in the first hour after dawn and in the last three hours before sunset, which are the best light hours to try.