Florisuga mellivora
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The white-necked jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a medium-sized hummingbird that ranges from Mexico south through Central America and northern South America into Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia. It is also found in Trinidad and Tobago. Its other common names include great jacobin and collared hummingbird.
In 1743, English naturalist George Edwards included a picture and a description of the white-necked jacobin in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "white-belly'd huming bird". Edwards based his etching on a specimen owned by the Duke of Richmond that had been collected in Suriname. When in 1758, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the 10th edition, he placed the white-necked jacobin with the other hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Trochilus mellivorus, and cited Edwards' work. The specific epithet combines the Latin mel and -vorus, meaning "honey eating". The type locality is Suriname. The white-necked jacobin is now placed in the genus Florisuga that was introduced in 1850 by Charles Bonaparte.
Two subspecies are recognised: *Sometimes... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 4 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-necked Jacobin sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 2,367 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 90th most-seen of the 503 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March to May
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a White-necked Jacobin in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August–September and December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-necked Jacobin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
14th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate White-necked Jacobin sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 14th at about 20%. The best odds are in Farallones de Cali National Natural Park (Colombia, about 60%), Main Ridge Forest Reserve (Trinidad and Tobago, about 60%) and Pico Bonito National Park (Honduras, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the White-necked Jacobin that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (about 70%), Violet-headed Hummingbird (about 40%) and Scaly-breasted Hummingbird (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-necked Jacobin is recorded against all the birds logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (2,367 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
