Volcano Hummingbird Selasphorus flammula Scientific name definitions

The Volcano Hummingbird is restricted to the Costa Rica and Panama Highlands Endemic Bird Area, where it is generally common in highland pastures and open grassland with scrub, usually above 2000 m elevation. This tiny hummingbird is mainly green above, with a brilliant wine-colored gorget in the male (replaced by dark spotting in the female), a white breast band, and greenish (males) or pale rufous (females) over the rest of the underparts. The tail is slightly forked in both sexes, more noticeably so in males. Three subspecies have been named, and these principally differ in the color of the gorget, being purplish gray to brilliant green in the southernmost form. In the non-breeding season, both sexes may defend territories around certain patches of small flowers.

7·5–8 cm; male 2·5 g, female 2·8 g. Adult has short, straight, black bill ; male of all forms has similar emargination on inner webs of rectrices 1 and 2, and unmodified remiges. Male bronzy-green above, central rectrices with some black towards tip, lateral rectrices mostly black edged and tipped with rufous; gorget mauve-purple, underparts mostly white, including collar across foreneck, sides of breast spotted with green and suffused with buffy to pale cinnamon. Female similar above, lateral rectrices with more or less rufous bases, black subterminal band, buffy to white tips; throat whitish, speckled with dusky bronze. Juvenile resembles adult female but has extensive buffy fringes on the upperparts, more green and greyish and less rufous on the lateral rectrices and more (male) or less (female) emargination on the central rectrices. Brightness and amount of red in gorget of male, amount of buffy below and of black in tail all increase from south to north across range (1 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). In race simoni both sexes average more buffy below and with more extensive black on tail, gorget of male rose red with lower margin squarer; both sexes of <em>torridus</em> similar but averaging whiter below, gorget of male metallic purplish-grey to purplish-green.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Open brushy areas on high mountain slopes, including páramo and sub-páramo, bogs, scrubby second growth on landslide scars or volcanic ash deposits, scrubby highland pastures and roadsides, gaps and edges of stunted elfin forest and borders of taller forest. Breeds mainly from c. 2000 m to 3000–3500 m, locally as low as 1800 m.

Following breeding leaves upper elevations, some descending to as low as about 1350 m and moving to adjacent mountains, producing some intermixing of races at this season.

Visits a wide variety of mostly small, often insect-pollinated flowers of shrubs (Comarostaphylia (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ), Fuchsia, Rubus, Vaccinium, Castilleja), vines (Bomarea), herbs (Salvia, Digitalis) and small trees (Miconia); takes advantage of perforations made by bumblebees or flowerpiercers (Diglossa) to reach nectar of flowers with long corollas, such as Centropogon. Male and sometimes female may defend feeding territories at large clumps of flowers, especially outside the breeding season, if not excluded by larger, more dominant species (especially Panterpe insignis) (1 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); breeding-season territories do not appear to be based on floral resources (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ). Takes arthropods chiefly by flycatching; female in particular gleans from foliage, spiders’ webs or roadcuts.

Soft chip notes heard while birds are foraging (1 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Male utters ‘descending’ call (a thin whistled “teeeeeuu”) (1 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and a twittering ‘scolding’ call in agonistic interactions with conspecific males, with the descending call also occasionally emitted at females; it consists of a single tone that starts at 9·9 ± 0·41 kHz, and descends to 6·8 ± 1·4 kHz over the course of 1·9 ± 0·6 seconds. During diving display flight, produces a frequency-modulated tone (probably vocal) and series of 2–5 broad-frequency sound pulses synchronized with abrupt tail spreads during the latter part of the dive, and apparently produced by fluttering the emarginated second rectrix (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ).

Late wet and most of dry season, Aug or Sept–Feb. As early as Jul male defends as mating stations conspicuous lookout perches, usually near flowers in open pastures, with chases (sometimes involving as many as four males) (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ) and towering dive displays, directed especially at female conspecifics, which is begun by ascending steeply, 25–30 m, before immediately diving on a J or L-shaped path, initially flapping the wings, then gliding while repeatedly opening and closing the tail; upon leveling out, the male flies off randomly (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ). Territories small, with perches of males at one site within a 15 m ×15 m area, usually in sunny positions 1–15 m above ground, and central perches of neighbouring territories as close as 20 m (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ); males arrive at perches 30 minutes after dawn, but depart up to two hours before sunset (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ). Females do not seem to nest within or close to male territory (2 Clark, C. J., T. J. Feo, and I. Escalante (2011). Courtship displays and natural history of Scintillant (Selasphorus scintilla) and Volcano (S. flammula) hummingbirds. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(2):218–228. Close ). Nest a compact little cup of pale-coloured plant down (Cirsium or Senecio) (1 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and spider web, heavily decorated on the outside with bits of moss and lichens, 1–5 m up on twig in outermost foliage of shrub or small tree, or on rootlet dangling under projecting (usually south- or east-facing) (1 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) bank of roadcut. No further information.

Not globally threatened. CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in Costa Rica and Panama Highlands EBA. Common over most of range, which includes protected areas for all forms such as Volcán Poás, Volcán Irazú and Amistad National Parks in Costa Rica. Rarest race is simoni, which also has most restricted breeding range, but even this form has probably benefited from deforestation and other human disturbances. In Cordillera de Talamanca, race torridus is far more abundant in non-forested habitats than in forest itself (3 Oostra, V., L. G. L. Gomes, and V. Nijman (2008). Implications of deforestation for the abundance of restricted-range bird species in a Costa Rican cloud-forest. Bird Conservation International 18(1):11–19. Close ).