The snowcap (Microchera albocoronata) is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae.

Adult males of both subspecies have the white forehead and crown that give this species its English and scientific names.

Males of the nominate subspecies have dark purple upperparts with a purplish black nape and a reddish gloss on the back, rump, and uppertail coverts.

Males of M. a. parvirostris differ by having less white on the tail feathers and a brighter coppery purple gloss to their upper- and underparts.

Immature males are like the adult female with the addition of a narrow white line above the eye and a gradual change of the whitish underparts to purplish black.

In addition to feeding on nectar, snowcaps glean arthropods from foliage, and males take small insects by hawking from a perch.

Females build a small cup nest of tree fern scales and plant down bound with spiderweb, with some moss and lichen on the outside.

One call is "a soft, high-pitched, dry tsip", and it makes "buzzy notes and chatters in aggressive interactions".