Costa’s Hummingbird
Calypte costae
The Costa’s Hummingbird is a North American desert southwest specialist. In the extreme heat of the summer it will look for cooler wooded habitats up-slope and nearby. Rarely, these birds have been found as far north as British Columbia and Alaska. Central and southern California, south to southern Baja California (Mexico) are more to their liking. But we also find them in southern Nevada, southwestern Arizona, and northwestern mainland Mexico.
In the extreme eastern parts of their range, they are visitors only during the spring and summer breeding season. In the western parts of their range they are year-round residents, though there is a shift from east to west in much of this region during the fall and summer seasons.
Taxonomists regard the Costa’s Hummingbird as monotypic (i.e. there are no recognised subspecies).
Those of us on the west coast of the USA who enjoy hummingbirds are more fortunate than our friends on the east coast. Rarely does anyone on the east coast meet more than the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. The Texas Gulf coast adds the Buff-Breasted Hummingbird most of the year, and during migration, several others.
In southern California, we have several hummingbird species with us year-round, and several more that pass through in spring and fall. Costa’s Hummingbird is a species that, along with Anna’s and Allen’s Hummingbirds, bless us throughout the year.
16 Photos

Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Feeding on Sweet Wild Pea at the Vista Grande site. Images from the SDNHM study of the Santa Rosa, San Jacinto Mountains. Riverside County, California. |
Date Taken: 2010:06:28 7:25 |
Location:
Vista Grande |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 |
File Name: JCD0945.CostasHummingBird.Female |
© 2010 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Palm Canyon. Anza Borrego, Northeast San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2010:05:06 9:45 |
Location:
Palm Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D2X, 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 |
File Name: JCD7185.CostasHummingBird.Female |
© 2010 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Palm Canyon. Anza Borrego, Northeast San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2010:05:06 9:49 |
Location:
Palm Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D2X, 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500 |
File Name: JCD7190.CostasHummingBird.Female |
© 2010 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Along the Great Southern Overland Stage Route, at Agua Caliente County Park. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2013:03:26 9:35 |
Location:
Anza-Borrego State Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 |
File Name: Cut_D3X2801-CostasHummingBird |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Beatty's Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon, near Hereford, Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2013:08:28 7:45 |
Location:
Miller Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/100 |
File Name: D3X2022-CostasHummingBird |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Beatty's Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon, near Hereford, Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2013:08:28 7:45 |
Location:
Miller Canyon |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/100 |
File Name: D3X2025-CostasHummingBird |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Visitor's Center at Borrego Springs. Anza Borrego, Northeast San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2011:10:11 10:16 |
Location:
Visitor Center |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X2763-CostasHummingBird |
© 2011 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Along the Great Southern Overland Stage Route, at Agua Caliente County Park. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2013:03:26 9:35 |
Location:
Anza-Borrego State Park |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 |
File Name: D3X2801-CostasHummingBird |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Along the Great Southern Overland Stage Route, at Agua Caliente County Park. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2013:03:26 9:48 |
Location:
Vallecito Valley |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 |
File Name: D3X2824-CostasHummingBird |
© 2013 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Some of my time late in the day during my stay at the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum was spent at the hummer feeders. The arboretum is near Superior Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2020:02:24 11:21 |
Location:
Boyce-Thompson Arboretum |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 |
File Name: CostasHummingbird_D5X1377-Boyce-Thompson |
© 2020 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Male bird along the Montezuma Valley Road. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2015:02:20 10:48 |
Location:
Montezuma Valley Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/4000 |
File Name: D3X6495-CostasHummingBird |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Male bird along the Montezuma Valley Road. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2015:02:20 10:37 |
Location:
Montezuma Valley Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1000 |
File Name: D3X6482-CostasHummingBird |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Male bird along the Montezuma Valley Road. San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2015:02:20 10:37 |
Location:
Montezuma Valley Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/2500 |
File Name: D3X6480-CostasHummingBird |
© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |


Broad-Tailed Hummingbird(Selasphorus platycercus) |
Description: Horse Thief Springs on the northeastern flanks of the Kingston Mountains is one of the Joseph Grinnell restudy locations taken on by the San Diego Natural History Museum. The site is roughly between Death Valley and Las Vegas Nevada. |
Date Taken: 2017:05:23 8:40 |
Location:
Horsethief Springs |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1000 |
File Name: CostasHummingbird_D5X1878-Female |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Most hummingbirds migrate. Here in the Anza-Borrego desert, some of these tiniest birds find the region suitable year-round. |
Date Taken: 2023:03:14 11:07 |
Location:
Tamarisk Grove |
Camera Information: NIKON Z 9, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: CostasHummingbird_Z9X0724_Anza-Borrego_TamariskGrove |
© 2023 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Costa's Hummingbird(Calypte costae) |
Description: Most hummingbirds migrate. Here in the Anza-Borrego desert, some of these tiniest birds find the region suitable year-round. |
Date Taken: 2023:03:14 13:24 |
Location:
Tamarisk Grove |
Camera Information: NIKON Z 9, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: CostasHummingbird_Z9X1631_Anza-Borrego_TamariskGrove |
© 2023 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |

Click map markers to reveal further information