Scintillant Hummingbird

This tiny bird inhabits brushy forest edges, coffee plantations and sometimes gardens at altitudes from 900-2000 m, and up to 2500 m when not breeding. It is only 6.5 cm long. The male weighs 2 g and the female 2.3 g. The black bill is short and straight.

The Scintillant Hummingbird is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Scintillant Hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla) is the smallest hummingbird within its range, which includes only the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. This tiny bird inhabits brushy forest edges, coffee plantations and sometimes gardens at altitudes from 900-2000 m, and up to 2500 m when not breeding. It is only 6.5 cm long. The male weighs 2 g and the female 2.3 g. The black bill is short and straight. More

Scintillant Hummingbird, Savegre, Costa RicaPermission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Trochiliformes Family: Trochilidae Genus: Selasphorus Species: S. More

A fact from Scintillant Hummingbird appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 2 March 2006. The text of the entry was as follows: "Did you know * ... More

A male Scintillant Hummingbird from at Savegre Lodge, in San Gerado de Dota, Costa Rica Photograph by Len Blumin from Mill Valley, California. Some rights reserved. More

jpgPortrait of a scintillant hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla) perched on the end of a leaf. Portrait of a scintillant hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla) perched on the end of a leaf. More

Nesting in the Scintillant Hummingbird is from September to February. Although clutch size is apparently unknown in this species, most hummingbirds lay two eggs, but this one had only one surviving chick which was large enough that we thought it would fledge soon. The Scintillant Hummingbird is endemic to the mountains of Costa Rica and adjacent Panama where it is rather locally distributed. It is the smallest hummingbird in Costa Rica measuring barely 2.5". More

The female Scintillant Hummingbird is entirely responsible for nest building and incubation. She lays two white eggs in her tiny plant-floss cup nest 1-4 m high in a scrub. Incubation takes 15-19 days, and fledging another 20-26. The food of this species is nectar, taken from a variety of small flowers, including Salvia and species normally pollinated by insects. Like other hummingbirds it also takes some small insects as an essential source of protein. More

For the purposes of our bird news services, Scintillant Hummingbird is classed as ungraded: species which are unlikely to appear as wild birds in Britain or Ireland (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance. More

Scintillant Hummingbird : A very tiny hummer, found in the highlands of Costa Rica. Savegre Lodge. Scintillant Hummingbird Violet-crowned Woodnymph : Found in both the Pacific and Caribbean lowlands, this male was shot from the observation platform at Hacienda Baru, S. Pacific area of Costa Rica. Violet-crowned Woodnymph Scarlet Macaw : All of these shotswere taken on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Images of macaws "playing" were taken at Playa Tambor, Costa Rica. More