Cinnamon Hummingbird
Cinnamon Hummingbird (Amazilia rutila)
Name Origin:
The genus name Amazilia comes from “Amazili,” a fictional Native American heroine in an 18th-century French novel, later adopted by early ornithologists as a poetic name for tropical hummingbirds. The species name rutila means “reddish-golden” in Latin, referring to the bird’s warm cinnamon and rufous tones.
Quick Facts
🪶 Length: 9–10.5 cm (3.5–4.1 in)
⚖️ Weight: 4–5 g (0.14–0.18 oz)
🌎 Range: Western and southern Mexico through Central America to Costa Rica
🧭 Elevation: Sea level to 1,800 m (0–5,900 ft)
🌸 Diet: Nectar and small insects
🏡 Habitat: Dry forest, scrub, mangroves, plantations, and gardens
🧬 Clade: Trochilini "Emeralds" (lowland hummingbirds)
📊 Status: Least Concern (IUCN 2024)
Subspecies & Distribution
1. Amazilia rutila graysoni (Tres Marías Islands)
Distribution: Endemic to the Tres Marías Islands, off western Mexico.
2. Amazilia rutila rutila (Mainland Mexico)
Distribution: Found in western and southwestern Mexico, from Jalisco to Oaxaca.
3. Amazilia rutila corallirostris
Distribution: Occurs in southern and southeastern Mexico (including Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula) south through Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and into Costa Rica.
4. Amazilia rutila diluta
Distribution: Found in northwestern Mexico, from Sinaloa to Nayarit.
Species Overview
The Cinnamon Hummingbird is one of the most abundant and wide-ranging tropical hummingbirds of Mesoamerica. Its combination of bright green upperparts, cinnamon underparts, and coral-red bill makes it unmistakable. Adapted to open and semi-arid landscapes, it thrives in disturbed habitats and gardens, making it one of the region’s most frequently encountered hummingbirds.
Male Description:
The male has brilliant metallic green upperparts, a rufous-cinnamon breast, belly, and undertail, and a bright red bill tipped black. The tail is bronzy-green above and rufous below, and the wings are dusky with a slight purplish sheen. In flight, the reddish underparts contrast sharply with the darker wings and tail.
Female Description:
The female resembles the male but is slightly duller overall, with less saturated cinnamon tones on the underparts and finer iridescence on the throat. Her bill is also a bit shorter and less intensely colored.
Habitat & Behavior:
This species inhabits open woodlands, dry forests, scrublands, mangroves, and cultivated areas, from sea level up to 1,800 meters. It is a frequent visitor to gardens and flowering trees such as Inga, Hamelia, and Cordia. The Cinnamon Hummingbird is highly territorial, often perching in exposed positions while chasing intruders with sharp tzip calls. It feeds primarily on nectar but also hawks small insects midair.
Conservation Note:
The Cinnamon Hummingbird is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN and remains common and stable across its extensive range. Its adaptability to disturbed and semi-open habitats has helped it persist despite regional deforestation. Locally, populations on the Tres Marías Islands (A. r. graysoni) are vulnerable to habitat degradation, but mainland populations are strong. Continued maintenance of flowering tree corridors and secondary forests supports this resilient Trochilini species.
Below is the Cinnamon Hummingbird (Amazilia rutila corallirostris)
Photographed in Guanacaste, Costa Rica
This individual belongs to the subspecies corallirostris, which occurs from southern Chiapas and Guatemala south through Central America to northwestern Panama. It inhabits dry forest, coastal scrub, and open country with flowering trees, especially in the Pacific lowlands up to about 1,200 meters.
Compared to the Mexican rutila, corallirostris tends to be slightly smaller with a redder bill base and more coppery upperparts. It is abundant in flowering dry zones and gardens and often the most conspicuous hummingbird of the Pacific slope.
Below is the Cinnamon Hummingbird (Amazilia rutila rutila)
Photographed at Finca Don Gabriel (Pochutla, Oaxaca), Jardín Botánico de Acapulco, Jesús of Nazareth, La Pintada, and Atoyac de Álvarez, Guerrero, Mexico
These individuals belong to the subspecies rutila, which occurs along the Pacific slope of Mexico from Sonora south through Guerrero and Oaxaca. It favors dry tropical forest, thorn scrub, and open woodland with scattered flowering trees, typically from sea level to 1,500 meters.
