Colibri cyanotus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The lesser violetear (Colibri cyanotus), also known as the mountain violet-ear, is a medium-sized, metallic green hummingbird species commonly found in forested areas from Costa Rica south to the Andes and Argentina and east to Venezuela. This species and the Mexican violetear were formerly considered as conspecific and named the 'green violetear'.
Like all hummingbirds, the lesser violetear belongs to the order Apodiformes. Hummingbirds share this order with the swifts, such as the white-collared swift. The name Apodiformes is derived from the Greek words "a pous", meaning "without foot". While apodiforms do in fact have feet, they are quite small and their legs are short and relatively weak. Many birds in this order cannot walk, and thus rarely if ever land on the ground since quick escape from predators is virtually impossible. For this reason members of this order spend a majority of their time in the air.
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Irazú Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Volcán Barú National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Chingaza National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 11 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 13 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 14 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 15 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 16 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Violetear sighting in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 9,337 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 412 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Violetear in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, against about 40% in September, the lowest month. That is one of Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve's driest months, with about 95 mm of rain against 510 mm in October.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Violetear sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Lesser Violetear sightings, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve ranks 3rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Los Quetzales National Park (Costa Rica, about 80%) and Irazú Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Violetear is recorded against all the birds logged in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (9,337 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.
