Eupetomena macroura
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The swallow-tailed hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura) is a species in the hummingbird family (Trochilidae), found mainly in east-central South America. Most authorities place it in the genus Eupetomena, although some place it in Campylopterus based on song and the thick shafts of the males' first primaries. Its common name and specific epithet (which means "large-tailed") both refer to the long, deeply forked, somewhat swallow-like tail.
The swallow-tailed hummingbird was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus, coined the binomial name Trochilus macrourus and specified the type locality as Jamaica. Gmelin cited earlier authors including Hans Sloane who in 1725 had described and illustrated a humming bird from Jamaica and Mathurin Jacques Brisson who in 1760, had described and illustrated a hummingbird from Cayenne, French Guiana. In 1929 Carl Eduard Hellmayr argued that Gmelin conflated two different species and that his diagnosis applied to Brisson's specimen from Cayenne; Sloane's Jamaican bird... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Niterói | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Santos | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Brasilia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Vitória | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Swallow-tailed Hummingbird sighting in Rio de Janeiro on a given day, based on 2,235 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 278 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.
January
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Swallow-tailed Hummingbird in Rio de Janeiro on a given day, against about 50% in May, July, October and December, the lowest months. That is one of Rio de Janeiro's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain against 40 mm in August.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Swallow-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.
Among the best
Of the 18 cities where we can rate Swallow-tailed Hummingbird sightings, Rio de Janeiro ranks 3rd at about 60%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Belo Horizonte (Brazil, about 60%) and Niterói (Brazil, about 60%).
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Swallow-tailed Hummingbird that you can see in Rio de Janeiro (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Violet-capped Woodnymph (about 20%) and Glittering-throated Emerald (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Swallow-tailed Hummingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Rio de Janeiro (2,235 verified sightings), 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.
