Blue-tailed Hummingbird
Blue-tailed Hummingbird (Saucerottia cyanura)
Name Origin:
The genus name Saucerottia honors Antoine Constant Saucerotte, an 18th-century French physician and naturalist. The species name cyanura is derived from the Greek kyanos meaning “blue” and oura meaning “tail,” describing the bird’s striking blue tail.
Quick Facts
🪶 Length: 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in)
⚖️ Weight: 3.5–4.5 g (0.12–0.16 oz)
🌎 Range: Southern Mexico through Central America to Costa Rica
🧭 Elevation: 300–1,800 m (980–5,900 ft)
🌸 Diet: Nectar and small insects
🏡 Habitat: Humid forest edges, plantations, secondary growth, and gardens
🧬 Clade: Trochilini "Emeralds" (mid-elevation hummingbirds)
📊 Status: Least Concern (IUCN)
Subspecies & Distribution
1. S. c. guatemalae
Distribution: Southeastern Mexico (southeastern Chiapas) to southern Guatemala.
2. S. c. cyanura
Distribution: Southern Honduras, eastern El Salvador, and northwestern Nicaragua.
3. S. c. impatiens
Distribution: Northwestern and central Costa Rica.
Species Overview
The Blue-tailed Hummingbird is a vivid, medium-sized species common along humid foothills and forest edges in Central America. Its glowing emerald plumage and sapphire-blue tail make it one of the region’s most eye-catching hummingbirds. Frequently seen at forest clearings and gardens, it is both territorial and remarkably adaptable to human-altered landscapes.
Male Description:
The male has brilliant metallic green upperparts and underparts, a deep blue tail, and a slightly decurved black bill. The underparts sometimes show a subtle bronze sheen. The tail and rump gleam an intense cobalt-blue in sunlight, creating a sharp contrast against the emerald body.
Female Description:
The female is similar but has paler underparts, a bluish-green tail tipped with grayish-white, and a slightly shorter bill. Her plumage is less intensely iridescent, especially on the underparts.
Habitat & Behavior:
The Blue-tailed Hummingbird inhabits humid and semi-humid forest borders, coffee plantations, gardens, and secondary growth, often at mid-elevations. It feeds on nectar from Inga, Hamelia, and Heliconia flowers, also catching small insects mid-air. Males are territorial, frequently engaging in short aerial chases. Its call is a sharp tsip-tsip, and its flight is fast, with quick hovering between flowers.
Conservation Note:
The Blue-tailed Hummingbird is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN and remains widespread and locally common across its range. Its tolerance for disturbed and cultivated habitats contributes to its stability, though localized declines occur where forest clearing and pesticide use reduce nectar sources. Maintaining flower-rich edges and shade-grown agroforestry systems is vital for preserving this striking Trochilini species.
Below is the Blue-tailed Hummingbird (Saucerottia cyanura guatemalae)
Photographed in San Marcos, Guatemala
This individual belongs to the subspecies guatemalae, which occurs in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, and Guatemala. It inhabits pine-oak woodland, forest edge, and semi-open scrub between 900 and 2,000 meters, often frequenting flowering coffee shade and secondary growth.
