The Story
This is a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) that I photographed at the Jardín Botánico del Quindío in Calarcá, Quindío, Colombia on June 16, 2017. It is found from east-central Mexico through Central America and Colombia into Ecuador and Venezuela. It is common at sugar-water feeders and in coffee and banana plantations. Its mostly chestnut-brown tail gives it its English name, and its bill is red with a black tip. The garden also looks after forest near Filandia and Circasia that is part of the Barbas-Bremen forest reserve.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000. IUCN lists the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and the garden’s butterfly house keeps more than 30 butterfly species native to Colombia.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) belongs to the family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List