Flying Fairy: Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird at Lower Dover

A few weeks ago, we featured this cool shot of a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird we were able to capture in the late afternoon of November 10th. We happened to grab a few more cool shots of the bird, and wanted to share them with a bit of information.

The rufous-tailed hummingbird is Belize’s most common and widespread hummingbird. According to Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones, it’s identified as “mostly iridescent green, with deep rufous tail, dark cinnamon rufous undertail coverts, white leg tufts, and black tipped red bill.”

It is found nearly every where, except in the deep interiors of the forest, and is a resident primarily on the Gulf Caribbean slope from Veracruz and throughout the Yucatan area.

It’s very common in Belize, except at higher elevations in the Maya Mountains where the buff bellied hummingbirds are more common.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird at Lower Dover

It’s not that easy to capture a humming bird in flight, as they are fast moving, and their wings beat so rapidly. We are able to get these decent shots using a fast shutter speed, and hopefully in the near future we can capture some more. We’ve noticed that they love feeding in the afternoon, especially in plants near fruit trees.

Happy Birding.

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