Lampornis cinereicauda
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The white-throated mountaingem or white-throated mountain-gem (Lampornis castaneoventris) is a species of hummingbird in tribe Lampornithini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama.
The white-throated mountaingem was formally described in 1851 by the English ornithologist John Gould based on a specimen collected by the Polish botanist Józef Warszewicz at an altidude of 1,800 m (6,000 ft) in the Cordillera de Chiriquí of western Panama. Gould coined the binomial name Trichilus castaneoventris where the specific epithet combines the Latin castaneus meaning "chestnut-brown" with venter, ventris meaning "belly". The white-throated mountaingem is now one of seven species placed in the genus Lampornis that was introduced in 1827 by the English zoologist William Swainson.
Two subspecies are recognised: The subspecies L. c. cinereicauda has sometimes been considered a separate species, the gray-tailed mountaingem. In 1999 Karl-Ludwig Schuchmann in the Handbook of Birds of... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-tailed Mountain-gem sighting in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 161st most-seen of the 467 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.
November
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Gray-tailed Mountain-gem in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July, September–October and December–May, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gray-tailed Mountain-gem sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Gray-tailed Mountain-gem sightings, Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Los Quetzales National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%).
Same genus: Lampornis
The closest relatives of the Gray-tailed Mountain-gem that you can see in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park (genus Lampornis, Mountain-gems) are White-throated Mountain-gem (about 40%) and Purple-throated Mountain-gem (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gray-tailed Mountain-gem is recorded against all the birds logged in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park (9 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.
