Santa Marta Woodstar

Quick Facts

Endemic
  • Scientific Name: Chaetocercus astreans
  • Spanish Name: Colibrí de Santa Marta
  • Family: Trochilidae
  • Known Nicknames: Santa Marta Hummingbird
  • Average Length: 6–7 cm / 2.4–2.8 in
  • Average Weight: 2.5–3.5 g / 0.09–0.12 oz
  • Wingspan: N/A
  • Key Feature: Iridescent green upperparts and a brilliant magenta throat in males
  • Primary Diet: Nectarivore (primarily nectar), also small insects
  • Range: Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Habitat: Subtropical and tropical moist montane forest edges and clearings
  • Social Structure: Solitary
  • Nesting/Breeding: Small cup nest on a horizontal tree branch
  • Conservation Status: Endangered (EN)
  • Population Trend: Decreasing

The Santa Marta Woodstar (*Chaetocercus astreans*) is a dazzling, diminutive hummingbird endemic to the high-altitude cloud forests of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a region renowned for its unique biodiversity. Weighing just over three grams, this tiny jewel measures a mere 7 to 8 centimeters in length, with males boasting a brilliant, iridescent violet-red throat that contrasts sharply with their shimmering green upperparts and white underparts, while females are more subdued with a pale buff belly and a white-tipped tail. Its most unique characteristic is its extraordinarily rapid, bee-like wingbeats—up to 80 per second—producing a distinctive, low-pitched hum during its hovering flight. Special features include a tiny, needle-like bill perfectly adapted to extract nectar from specialized tubular flowers like those of the *Palicourea* genus, and its highly restricted range makes it a sought-after species for birdwatchers, though its secretive nature and preference for dense, mossy forest edges often make it a fleeting, magical glimpse.

Fun Facts

Despite its tiny size—barely 8 centimeters long—the Santa Marta Woodstar is a fearless aerial acrobat, often seen chasing much larger birds away from its feeding territories with high-pitched buzzing sounds. Its wings beat up to 80 times per second, creating a low hum that resembles a bumblebee, which helps it hover with pinpoint precision while sipping nectar from tubular flowers. A quirky adaptation: during cool mountain nights, it enters a state of torpor, slowing its heart rate from over 1,000 beats per minute to just 50, effectively becoming a cold, motionless “feathery rock” until sunrise. Males also have iridescent purple throat feathers that flash like a strobe light during courtship dives, but only when sunlight hits them at the perfect angle.

Habitats & Distribution

Endemic to Colombia, this species is restricted to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, an isolated massif in the country's north. It inhabits humid montane forests and forest edges at elevations between 1,200 and 3,000 meters, often favoring areas with dense understory and abundant flowering plants like bromeliads and epiphytes. Its distribution is highly localized, with most records concentrated on the northern and western slopes of the range, where suitable habitat persists in a narrow band of cloud forest and elfin woodland.

Behaviours & Reproduction

Males establish small breeding territories within humid montane forests and cloud forest edges, where they perform aerial displays to attract females. These displays involve rapid, pendulum-like flights and high-pitched vocalizations, with males hovering closely to potential mates. Courtship is brief, and males provide no parental care after copulation. Females alone construct a tiny cup nest from plant down and spider webs, typically placed on a horizontal branch or in a mossy fork. A single clutch of two white eggs is laid, and the female incubates them for about 15–16 days, then feeds the chicks regurgitated nectar and small arthropods. The young fledge after roughly 20–22 days. No unique reproductive strategies are documented beyond this typical hummingbird pattern, though the species’ reliance on specific flowering plants for nectar may influence breeding timing with peak bloom seasons.

Diet

The Santa Marta Woodstar, a tiny hummingbird endemic to Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, feeds primarily on nectar from a variety of flowering plants, using its specialized long, slender bill and extendable, forked tongue to extract the sugary liquid while hovering in midair. Interestingly, its diet is not limited to nectar; it also consumes small insects and spiders, which provide essential proteins, fats, and amino acids necessary for growth, feather maintenance, and high-energy flight. This hummingbird exhibits a high metabolic rate, requiring it to feed frequently throughout the day—often visiting hundreds of flowers—and it can enter a state of torpor at night to conserve energy when food is scarce. The species shows a preference for tubular, brightly colored flowers, such as those from the genera *Fuchsia* and *Palicourea*, and its feeding behavior makes it a crucial pollinator in its cloud forest habitat.

Colors

The male Santa Marta Woodstar displays iridescent magenta-purple gorget and throat, contrasting with a green back, bronze-green crown, and white-tipped green tail feathers. Females have a white throat and underparts with green flanks, lacking the male's vibrant throat patch. Both sexes have a short, straight black bill and white postocular spot. Their tiny size and muted green upperparts provide camouflage in the dense, humid understory of Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.