The tiny Snowcap, a Hummingbird native to Costa Rica, is not always easy to spot. When I was in Costa Rica this past March, we visited a place near our lodge where the elusive Snowcap was known to be. We were lucky and did find a number of females and a couple of immature males. This is a female Snowcap. She appears to be sticking her tongue out. Hummingbird tongues are amazing. The tongue works like a pump by compressing and then rapidly expanding to draw up the nectar. A hummingbird’s tongue can be twice as long as its beak. When the tongue is retracted into the beak, it coils up and wraps around the skull.