The amazing Snowcap
Snowcaps (Microchera albocoronata) are just spectacular hummingbirds, and they can be difficult to get a close view of in most areas of Costa Rica. There are a few factors that make them elusive.
First, they're not as common as other hummingbirds. For instance, on eBird, there are 328,000 reports of the common Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, while there are only 7,700 reports of the Snowcap.
Second, they're smaller and less dominant than other hummingbirds, and so they get chased off by other birds before you can get a photo.
Third, they prefer to nectar in darker, more protected areas, making it difficult to photograph.
With all those caveats, there are a few places where these birds are common and easy to see. In our experience, the best place to see a Snowcap hummingbird is Tapir Valley Nature Reserve.
This incredible hummingbird likes a very specific range of altitude (in Costa Rica from 300-800 meters above sea level), and Tapir Valley is right in the sweet spot at 700 meters. These birds need a very specific habitat of mountain forests and adjacent open areas to flourish, and that habitat has decreased over the last twenty years. That's resulted in a decline in the numbers of this very special bird.
There are a few spots in Costa Rica where Snowcaps are consistent and easy to find. While they prefer the Caribbean slope of Central America, their range extends just enough to the west to reach Bijagua and Tapir Valley.
The restoration projects at Tapir Valley have made it the perfect place to see this hummingbird, because of our primary forest and adjacent open gardens. Year-round, we probably have at least four or five nesting pairs of these birds here at our reserve.
