Blue-vented Hummingbird

The blue-vented hummingbird is 8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in) long and weighs an average of 4.45 g (0.16 oz). Both sexes have a straight bill with a blackish maxilla and a coral-red mandible with a dark tip. Adult males have golden-green upperparts with coppery to purplish rump and uppertail coverts. Their underparts are dark glittering golden-green with greenish to steel blue undertail coverts. Their tail is pale steel blue and slightly forked. Adult females are similar but with a duller green lower breast and belly. Their throat feathers have white bars near the end, the feathers of their vent area have grayish-buff edges, and their outer tail feathers have purplish tips. Juveniles are darker than adults and duller green below with a grayish-brown belly. Their throat is darkish gray and their back and rump feathers have brownish edges.

The blue-vented hummingbird is found from southern Nicaragua to central Costa Rica. It inhabits semi-open landscapes such as scrublands, savanna, the edges of mature forest, secondary forest, and gardens. It tends to prefer dryish habitats except in the dry season, when it is found in moister areas. In elevation it ranges from sea level to at most 1,800 m (5,900 ft).

The blue-vented hummingbird forages for nectar at a wide variety of plants, vines, shrubs, and trees. It tends to forage only as high as the tops of small trees and often defends feeding territories. In addition to nectar if feeds on insects that it captures on the wing and sometimes from the surface of water.