Chlorestes eliciae
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The blue-throated goldentail (Chlorestes eliciae), also known as the blue-throated sapphire, is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest.
The male blue-throated goldentail is a little bit larger than the female and display similar patterns but brighter colors on its plumage. This species can be distinguished by its straight, bright red bill with a black tip. The crown and upperparts of the male blue-throated goldentail are green, and more coppery or golden on the rectrices. The throat is glittering blue-violet to violet, the belly is cream-brown buff, and the sides of the breast and the flanks are streaked with green. The female's throat is rather violet blue, mixed with gray buff, and the belly is paler than the male's. The immature looks like the female adult as it has duller colors. This characteristic more pronounced in the female juvenile.
As most hummingbird species, the blue-throated goldentail is primarily nectarivorous. It feeds on flowers of shrubs (Stachytarpheta, Hamelia) and large herbs (Heliconia, Renealmia, Thalea), on epiphytes, and sometimes on small arthropods. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-throated Sapphire sighting in La Amistad International Park (Panama) on a given day, based on 182 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 388th most-seen of the 657 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-throated Sapphire in La Amistad International Park (Panama) on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-throated Sapphire sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Blue-throated Sapphire sightings, La Amistad International Park (Panama) ranks 16th at under 5%. The best odds are in Coiba National Park (Panama, about 40%), Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%) and Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve (Costa Rica, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Blue-throated Sapphire that you can see in La Amistad International Park (Panama) (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (about 50%), Lesser Violetear (about 20%) and Violet Sabrewing (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-throated Sapphire is recorded against all the birds logged in La Amistad International Park (Panama) (182 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.
