Birdfinding.info ⇒ Usually easy to find at humid forest sites such as El Yunque National Forest and Río Abajo and Maricao State Forests, and in dry forest and scrub along the southwestern coast at Guánica State Forest, Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, and La Parguera. Within San Juan, Julio Enrique Monaga National Park may be the most promising place to search for it.
Puerto Rican Emerald
Chlorostilbon maugaeus
Endemic to Puerto Rico, where it inhabits wet and dry forests at all elevations, and locally other types of woodland and gardens. Occurs throughout the island, but much more numerous in the western half.
Identification
Male is unmistakable in its range: a thin, deep-green hummingbird with a forked tail.
Puerto Rican Emerald, male taking nectar through the base of a flower. (Cayey, Puerto Rico; July 9, 2017.) © José Santiago
Puerto Rican Emerald, male. (Utuado, Puerto Rico; March 21, 2017.) © Alex Lamoreaux
Puerto Rican Emerald, male, with pollen at the base of its bill. (Parque Juan Ramírez Ortíz, Puerto Rico; March 19, 2017.) © Ken Pulvino
Puerto Rican Emerald, male. (Utuado, Puerto Rico; May 26, 2017.) © Chris Sloan
Female is small and has a notched, white-tipped tail, whitish underparts, and a distinctly marked face, with a black eyestripe and white post-ocular spot or streak.
Puerto Rican Emerald, female. (El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico; November 14, 2016.) © Neil Skoog
Puerto Rican Emerald, female. (Gazebos de Carite, Puerto Rico; April 1, 2018.) © José Santiago
Puerto Rican Emerald, female, showing notched tail with black-and-white corners. (Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Puerto Rico; March 9, 2017.) © John Anderson
Puerto Rican Emerald, female. (Parque Juan Ramírez Ortíz, Puerto Rico; March 19, 2017.) © Ken Pulvino
Cf. Antillean Crested Hummingbird. In Puerto Rico’s eastern lowlands, the even smaller female Antillean Crested is generally similar to the female emerald, but lacks the emerald’s facial markings.
Notes
Monotypic species.
References
eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed October 31, 2018.)
Fogden, M., M. Taylor, and S.L. Williamson. 2014. Hummingbirds: A Life-size Guide to Every Species. HarperCollins, New York.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.