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.