Heliodoxa rubinoides
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The fawn-breasted brilliant (Heliodoxa rubinoides) is a medium-sized species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Other common names include lilac-throated brilliant in English and brillante pechigamuza, colibrí de vientre ocre, and diamante pechigamuza in Spanish.
The fawn-breasted brilliant was originally described as Trochilus rubinoides by French naturalists Jules Bourcier and Étienne Mulsant in 1846, with the type locality given as Colombia. It was later moved to the genus Heliodoxa, which was introduced by John Gould in 1850. The genus name Heliodoxa derives from the Greek words hēlios ("sun") and doxa ("glory"), while the specific epithet rubinoides combines the Latin rubinus ("ruby-red") with the Greek suffix -oidēs ("resembling"), referring to the male's pink throat patch.
There are three recognized subspecies: Heliodoxa rubinoides rubinoides (Bourcier & Mulsant, 1846) – Central and Eastern Andes of Colombia. Heliodoxa rubinoides aequatorialis (Gould, 1860) – Western slope of the Andes from western Colombia (Antioquia) south to western Ecuador (Pichincha to El Oro and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Fawn-breasted Brilliant sighting in Los Nevados National Natural Park on a given day, based on 82 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 238th most-seen of the 424 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fawn-breasted Brilliant in Los Nevados National Natural Park on a given day, against under 5% in June to April, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fawn-breasted Brilliant sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Fawn-breasted Brilliant sightings, Los Nevados National Natural Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Podocarpus National Park (Ecuador, about 20%) and Farallones de Cali National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%).
Same family: Trochilidae
The closest relatives of the Fawn-breasted Brilliant that you can see in Los Nevados National Natural Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Shining Sunbeam (about 40%), Great Sapphirewing (about 40%) and Golden-breasted Puffleg (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fawn-breasted Brilliant is recorded against all the birds logged in Los Nevados National Natural Park (82 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.
