The White-bellied Emerald moves quickly among leaves, flowers and forest clearings in Guatemala’s Laguna del Tigre National Park. The local biological station also notes its role in pollination.
It is a small, agile hummingbird with metallic green head and back, a white belly and a slender bill. The station notes that the green sheen changes with viewing angle.
Among 170 analyzed records from five Belize capture sites and Central American photos, 46 were from before the second major feather change. During the first feather change, 0–2 inner feathers in the row covering the wing surface were replaced (mean 0.04). Young wing feathers were dull, washed-out green; feathers grown later had a metallic green sheen. Young tail feathers were narrow bronze-green, with a narrow dark band near the tip and a small white tip.
Adult tail feathers were broader and bronze, with a clearer dark band and a larger white tip. At the stage with adult feathers in place, bill ridges were usually absent, but 4.42% of birds retained up to 10%. In the records, the adult-feathering change ran May–August, and the second major feather change July–February of the following year.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.