Amazilia tzacatl
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The rufous-tailed hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) is a medium-sized hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found from east-central Mexico through Central America and Colombia into Ecuador and Venezuela.
The rufous-tailed hummingbird was formally described in 1833 by the Mexican naturalist Pablo de La Llave. He placed it in the genus Trochlilus and coined the binomial name Trochilus tzacatl. The rufous-tailed hummingbird is now placed in the genus Amazilia and was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist René Lesson. The genus name comes from the Inca heroine in Jean-François Marmontel's novel Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'Empire du Pérou. The specific epithet is from Aztec mythology: Tzacatl was a warrior chief.
The rufous-tailed hummingbird has these five recognized subspecies: A. t. handleyi was originally described as a separate species, the Escudo hummingbird. At least one author treated the rufous-tailed hummingbird and the chestnut-bellied hummingbird (Saucerottia... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 6 | Quito | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 8 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque Zoológico Nacional Simón Bolívar | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird sighting in Chirripó National Park on a given day, based on 913 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 332 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March and June
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird in Chirripó National Park on a given day, against about 50% in April–May and November–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous-tailed 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.
11th of 48
Of the 48 parks where we can rate Rufous-tailed Hummingbird sightings, Chirripó National Park ranks 11th at about 60%. The best odds are in Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park (Honduras, about 70%), Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 70%) and Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird that you can see in Chirripó National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Snowy-bellied Hummingbird (about 40%), Violet Sabrewing (about 30%) and White-tailed Emerald (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Chirripó National Park (913 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.
