Emerald-chinned Hummingbird

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Quick Facts

  • Scientific Name: Abeillia abeillei
  • Spanish Name: Colibrí barbiesmeralda
  • Family: Trochilidae
  • Known Nicknames: Emerald-chinned Emerald, Abeille's Hummingbird
  • Average Length: 7–8 cm / 2.8–3.1 in
  • Average Weight: 3–4 g / 0.11–0.14 oz
  • Wingspan: 11–12 cm / 4.3–4.7 in
  • Key Feature: Male has a glittering emerald-green chin and throat, contrasting with a white breast and brownish-bronze upperparts
  • Primary Diet: Nectarivore (primarily nectar) and occasional small arthropods
  • Range: Southern Mexico (Chiapas) through Central America to western Panama
  • Habitat: Humid montane and foothill forests, forest edges, and shaded coffee plantations
  • Social Structure: Solitary and territorial
  • Nesting/Breeding: Small cup-shaped nest made of plant down and spider webs, placed on a horizontal branch or in a fork
  • Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC)
  • Population Trend: Stable

The Emerald-chinned Hummingbird (*Abeillia abeillei*) is a dazzling jewel of Central American cloud forests, named for the male’s most distinctive feature: a brilliant, glittering emerald-green throat patch that starkly contrasts with its otherwise deep, velvety black head and underparts. This small, compact hummingbird, measuring only about 8.5 centimeters, displays a striking overall appearance with a short, straight black bill and a shimmering green back and rump that catch the light in dappled forest shade. A unique special feature is the female’s entirely different, more subdued plumage—pale gray below with a whitish throat and green upperparts—making this one of the few hummingbird species with such extreme sexual dimorphism in color. Its energetic, whirring flight and preference for feeding at low- to mid-level flowers, often in the understory near streams, make it a captivating, though elusive, sight for birdwatchers in its range from southern Mexico to Honduras.

Fun Facts

The emerald-chinned hummingbird is a master of high-speed aerial combat, often aggressively chasing away birds twice its size from its favorite flower patches. Despite its tiny size, it performs a unique “pendulum display” during courtship, swinging back and forth in a hypnotic arc while its namesake chin patch flashes like a green laser. To survive cool mountain nights, it can enter a state of torpor, dropping its heart rate from over 1,000 beats per minute to a near-death slow rhythm, conserving energy until dawn. Its tongue is forked and fringed at the tip, allowing it to lap up nectar at a rate of 13 licks per second, but it also supplements its diet with tiny spiders it snatches mid-air for protein.

Habitats & Distribution

The Emerald-chinned Hummingbird is found in the highlands of southern Mexico (primarily Chiapas), Guatemala, Honduras, and northern El Salvador. Its habitat consists of humid to semi-humid montane forests, cloud forests, and adjacent edges, often at elevations between 900 and 2,500 meters. It prefers the understory and mid-levels of these forests, frequently foraging along forest borders and in second-growth vegetation, but it avoids open, deforested areas.

Behaviours & Reproduction

The Emerald-chinned Hummingbird is generally solitary outside of breeding, with males defending flower-rich feeding territories against intruders. Courtship involves the male performing aerial displays, including steep dives and U-shaped flights to showcase his iridescent chin and throat patch to a perched female. After mating, the female alone constructs a small cup-shaped nest from plant down and spider silk, often attached to a thin branch. She incubates the two white eggs for about 15–18 days and feeds the chicks regurgitated nectar and small arthropods until they fledge at roughly three weeks old. There is no pair bond beyond copulation, and males do not participate in parental care.

Diet

The Emerald-chinned Hummingbird (Abeillia abeillei) is a nectar specialist, feeding primarily on the sugary liquid from a variety of tubular flowers, which it accesses with its long, extendable tongue. An interesting fact about its diet is that it does not rely solely on nectar; it also actively hunts small insects and spiders, often plucking them from foliage or catching them in mid-air, to obtain essential proteins, fats, and amino acids. This insectivory is crucial for its high-energy lifestyle, especially during breeding season and for fueling its incredibly rapid metabolism, which requires it to consume up to twice its body weight in food daily. Furthermore, the species is known to exhibit a behavior called "trap-lining," where it visits a specific sequence of flowers along a consistent route, efficiently exploiting reliable nectar sources while minimizing energy expenditure.

Colors

The Emerald-chinned Hummingbird has a mostly metallic green upper body and white underparts, with a distinctive, glittering emerald-green throat patch (gorget) that appears dark in poor light. Its tail is forked and dark, with white tips on the outer feathers. The male’s gorget is more vibrant, while the female lacks the vivid throat patch, having a whitish throat with green speckles. No specific camouflage adaptations are noted beyond typical countershading.

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