Costa's Hummingbird

Calypte costaeOrder: APODIFORMESFamily: Hummingbirds (Trochilidae)

General

Costa's Hummingbird: Medium-sized hummingbird with green back, pale gray underparts and dull green flanks. Crown and throat patch are brilliant metallic purple. Tail is green with black outer tail feathers. Female and juvenile have white throat, sometimes speckled with purple. Tail is green with white-tipped outer tail feathers.

Range and Habitat

Costa's Hummingbird: Breeds from central California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah southward. Spends winters in southern California and Mexico. Prefer arid habitats supporting Joshua trees and cholla cacti.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chip-chip-chip-chip"

Interesting Facts

The Costa's Hummingbird was named after French nobleman Louis Marie Pantaleon Costa, Marquis de Beauregard.

A group of hummingbirds has many collective nouns, including a “bouquet", "glittering", "hover", "shimmer", and "tune” of hummingbirds.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Costa's Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird: Medium hummingbird with green back, pale gray underparts and dull green flanks. Crown and throat patch are brilliant metallic purple. Straight black bill. Tail is green with black outer tail feathers. Legs and feet are black. Feeds on nectar, spiders, sap and insects. Direct and hovering flight with very rapid wing beats.

● Song: "chip-chip-chip-chip"

● Foraging & Feeding: Costa's Hummingbird: Feeds mainly on nectar, but supplements diet with insects; forages while hovering.

● Breeding & nesting: Costa's Hummingbird: Two white eggs are laid in a delicately woven cup with leaves or lichens fastened to the outside, built low on a protected branch of a bush or small tree. Incubation ranges from 15 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Costa's Hummingbird: Lucifer Hummingbird has strongly decurved bill, green crown, and deeply forked tail. Female Lucifer is strongly buff below, has decurved bill, and forked tail. Female and immature Anna's is larger with darker throat and duller underparts. Female Archilochus Hummingbird has streaked throat.

Flight Pattern

Hovers when feeding.

● Range & Habitat: Costa's Hummingbird: Breeds from central California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah southward. Spends winters in southern California and Mexico. Prefer arid habitats supporting Joshua trees and cholla cacti.

^BreedingPolygamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.1 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America