Clytolaema rubricauda
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Brazilian ruby (Heliodoxa rubricauda) is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini, in the subfamily Lesbiinae. It is endemic to Brazil. The Brazilian ruby was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Trochilus rubicauda in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality is Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
The Brazilian ruby was at one time the only species in the genus Clytolaema that was introduced by the ornithologist and bird artist John Gould in 1853. However, a 2014 publication provided evidence that Clytolaema is embedded within the genus Heliodoxa. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) and the International... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Brazilian Ruby sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 1,336 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 352 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.
June–July, September and November
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Brazilian Ruby in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, against about 30% in May, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brazilian Ruby sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Brazilian Ruby sightings, Itatiaia National Park has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Brazil, about 20%).
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Brazilian Ruby that you can see in Itatiaia National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Violet-capped Woodnymph (about 60%), Scale-throated Hermit (about 40%) and White-throated Hummingbird (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brazilian Ruby is recorded against all the birds logged in Itatiaia National Park (1,336 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.
