Selasphorus flammula
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The volcano hummingbird (Selasphorus flammula) is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Costa Rica and Panama. This hummingbird is the one that appears on the 20 thousand colones bill from Costa Rica.
All three have at times been treated as color morphs rather than subspecies and at other times as individual species. The volcano hummingbird is 7.5 to 8 cm (3.0 to 3.1 in) long. Males weigh about 2.5 g (0.088 oz) and females 2.8 g (0.099 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a short, straight, black bill and a small white spot behind the eye. The adult male of the nominate subspecies has bronze-green upperparts and rufous-edged black outer tail feathers. Its gorget is mauve-purple and the rest of the underparts mostly white. The sides of the breast have a buffy to pale cinnamon wash and green speckles. The adult female is also bronze-green above. Its central tail feathers are green and the rest have rufous bases, a black band near the end, and buffy to white... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Irazú Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Volcán Barú National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Volcano Hummingbird sighting in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, based on 7,333 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 467 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 to March
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Volcano Hummingbird in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, against about 30% in June and October, the lowest months. Those are among Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park's driest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 570 mm in October.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Volcano Hummingbird 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 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Volcano Hummingbird sightings, Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park ranks 3rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Irazú Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 90%) and Los Quetzales National Park (Costa Rica, about 80%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Volcano Hummingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park (7,333 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.
