Calothorax lucifer
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The lucifer sheartail or lucifer hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer) is a medium-sized, 10 cm long, green hummingbird with a slightly curved bill and distinctive outward flare of its gorget feathers. Its habitat is in high-altitude areas of northern Mexico and southwestern United States. It winters in central Mexico.
The lucifer sheartail was formally described in 1827 by the English zoologist William Swainson based on a specimen collected at Temascaltepec in central Mexico. Swainson placed the species in the genus Cynanthus and coined the binomial name Cynanthus lucifer. The specific epithet lucifer is Latin meaning "light-bearing" from lux, lucis meaning "light" and -fera meaning "-bearing". The lucifer sheartail is now placed with the beautiful sheartail in the genus Calothorax that was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray.
The lucifer sheartail is a medium-sized, 10-centimetre (3.9 in) long, green hummingbird with a long curved bill, small wings, and white streak behind its eye. The male has an iridescent plumage, forked dark tail, green crown, long magenta gorget, and white underparts. The female is larger with duller plumage... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 2 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Lucifer Hummingbird sighting in Big Bend National Park on a given day, based on 138 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd most-seen of the 270 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Lucifer Hummingbird in Big Bend National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months. Those are among Big Bend National Park's wettest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in April.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lucifer Hummingbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Lucifer Hummingbird sightings, Big Bend National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (Mexico, under 5%).
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Lucifer Hummingbird that you can see in Big Bend National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Black-chinned Hummingbird (about 10%), Broad-tailed Hummingbird (about 10%) and Blue-throated Hummingbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lucifer Hummingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Big Bend National Park (138 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
