The Garden Emerald is a small hummingbird with males having bronze-green upper parts, brilliant green underparts, white thighs and deep forked tails. Females have gray underparts, white stripe behind their eyes and dusky ear patches. Their tails have white tips and lack the deep fork of the males. Juveniles resemble the adult females but have some buff feather tips. They are an endemic resident breeder in Costa Rica and western Panama.