Chlorestes eliciae
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-throated Sapphire sighting in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 106th most-seen of the 182 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and October–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-throated Sapphire in Ostional Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April–September, the lowest months.
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.
11th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Blue-throated Sapphire sightings, Ostional Wildlife Refuge ranks 11th at about 10%. 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 Ostional Wildlife Refuge (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Cinnamon Hummingbird (about 20%), Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (about 20%) and Canivet's Emerald (about 10%), 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 Ostional Wildlife Refuge (36 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.
