Scintillant hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla); Chispita Gorginaranja; Flämmchenkolibri; Colibri scintillant

The Scintillant Hummingbird measures only 3″ from head to tail. I have found this tiny hummingbird in my garden – and in our village of San Antonio – on only a handful of occasions. Its appearance in May this year in Santa Rosa, some 200 meters lower down the Turrialba Volcano slope, was perhaps even more surprising and, especially since it was an immature bird, required careful identification:

The Scintillant Hummingbird is best distinguished from the equally diminutive Magenta-throated Woodstar (Calliphlox bryantae) by the absence of white patches on each side of the rump. Both of these hummingbird species are found exclusively in Costa Rica and adjacent western Panama.

This rear view excludes the possibility of a coquette species. Below a final clear look at what has been determined to be an immature male still shows only a mere trace of the post-ocular spot seen on adult birds in most field guides:

See my next post for a highland hummingbird species that stayed for more than a week in my garden in San Antonio de Santa Cruz de Turrialba.