Hummingbirds of Ecuador

133 of the world's 363 hummingbird species live in or visit Ecuador, and 4 of them are found nowhere else on Earth.

See Ecuador in the explorer

Which hummingbirds

How many species of each group live in Ecuador, out of all the species in that group. Bar length shows the group’s size worldwide.

• Florisuginae topazes2 of 4
• Phaethornithinae hermits17 of 37
• Polytminae mangoes12 of 30
• Lesbiini coquettes29 of 67
• Heliantheini brilliants34 of 57
• Patagoninae Patagona1 of 1
• Lampornithini mountain gems2 of 17
• Mellisugini bees9 of 37
• Trochilini emeralds27 of 113

The biggest group here is the brilliants, with 34 species.

Compared with other countries

• Colombia166
• Ecuador133
• Peru130
• Venezuela104
• Brazil84
• Bolivia77
• Mexico59
• Panama59
• Costa Rica52
• Honduras42

Ecuador is 2nd of the 55 countries and territories with hummingbirds. See them all.

Found only in Ecuador · 4

• Blue-throated HillstarCritically endangeredNick Athanas · CC BY-SA 2.0
• Violet-throated MetaltailVulnerableFrank Dietze · CC BY 4.0
• Black-breasted PufflegEndangeredFrank Dietze · CC BY 4.0
• Esmeraldas WoodstarVulnerableBert Harris · CC BY-SA 3.0

Red List status

• Critically endangered 2
• Endangered 1
• Vulnerable 2
• Near threatened 3
• Least concern 125

5 species here are threatened and 3 are near threatened; 4 of them live only in Ecuador.

• Blue-throated HillstarCritically endangered · only in Ecuador
• Turquoise-throated PufflegCritically endangered
• Black-breasted PufflegEndangered · only in Ecuador
• Violet-throated MetaltailVulnerable · only in Ecuador
• Esmeraldas WoodstarVulnerable · only in Ecuador
• Royal SunangelNear threatened
• Hoary PufflegNear threatened
• Little WoodstarNear threatened

Sizes

From the Peruvian Sheartail, 1.9 g, to the Giant Hummingbird, 20.2 g. The scale covers the whole family, from 1.9 to 20.2 g.

Visitors · 3

These species don’t breed in Ecuador; they come for the winter, pass through on migration, or turn up rarely.

• Turquoise-throated Puffleg possibly extinct here
• Blue-tufted Starthroat uncertain
• Sapphire-spangled Emerald uncertain

All 133 species

Sources

Countries and how each species uses them: BirdLife International DataZone, checked against eBird records via GBIF. The count includes every species on the country’s list, as the explorer’s map does. Groups: Dickinson & Remsen (2013) and McGuire et al. (2014). Weight: AVONET (Tobias et al. 2022, CC BY 4.0). Red List status: BirdLife International, the IUCN Red List authority for birds.