Amazilia tzacatl
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird sighting in Darién National Park on a given day, based on 51 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 148th most-seen of the 397 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird in Darién National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, July and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Darién National Park's wettest months, with about 440 mm of rain against 100 mm in February.
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.
39th of 48
Of the 48 parks where we can rate Rufous-tailed Hummingbird sightings, Darién National Park ranks 39th at about 10%. 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 Darién National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Long-billed Hermit (about 20%), Violet-crowned Woodnymph (about 20%) and Purple-crowned Fairy (about 20%), 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 Darién National Park (51 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.
