Hummingbirds - Colibries Springtime Beauties in Costa Rica

 Hummingbirds

Springtime Beauties

 Costa Rica is full of hummingbirds. The country's checklist boasts 54 species.

 These range from widespread and common, like the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, to rather scarce and local ones, such as Black-crested Coquette.  Coquettes are among the tiniest birds in the world.

Magnificent Hummingbird

All of these photos were taken in the backyard of the 'Monarch Villa' where we staying in La Paz.  Unique among these type of birds, is that they can generate power on both the forward and backward wing strokes and thus fly backwards.

Purple-throated Mountain-Gem

Green-crowned Brilliant

Coppery-headed Emerald

We saw hummingbirds hovering over flowers as they extracted nectar and insects with their long, hollow, extensile tongues that are forked at the tip.

Hummingbirds are named for the hum made by the beat of their wings, which is faster than your eye can detect at up to 100 times per second.

Nectar Flowers

The hummingbird's primary food is  high-energy nectar from flowers which thrive in these tropical forests. . For protein, they will occasionally eat spiders and flying gnats.

Green Violetear

Violet Sabrewing

Poster I brought home.