Cinnamon Hummingbird
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least Concern 3
Where and when to see the Cinnamon Hummingbird
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It lives in dry forest, coastal scrub, mangrove edges, orchards and flowering gardens. Look for it by flowering trees and shrubs, where it often chases other hummingbirds away.
Where it’s reported most
- Poniente Ecological ParkMérida, Yucatán
- Kabah Ecological ParkBenito Juárez, Quintana Roo
- CelestúnCelestún, Yucatán
When
All year
Reported all year.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 80%
- February: 81%
- March: 75%
- April: 87%
- May: 92%
- June: 87%
- July: 87%
- August: 96%
- September: 100%
- October: 94%
- November: 80%
- December: 76%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Common in dry scrub, coastal vegetation and village gardens, where it defends flowering shrubs and trees against other hummingbirds.
- Identification
- Shining green above and cinnamon over all of the underparts, with a rufous tail and a red bill tipped black. Females and young birds have less red on the bill.
- Voice
- Hard “chik” notes and a buzzy “tzip”; its song is a run of thin, squeaky chips.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftCut off from the rest
Most Cinnamon Hummingbirds live along the Pacific side of Mexico and Central America, from Sinaloa to Costa Rica. The Yucatán Peninsula has its own population, separated from the rest. 1,2
Ziricote nectar
It goes for flowers with plenty of rich nectar, such as those of the ziricote tree (Cordia dodecandra) and Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus). It also sips juice from split cactus fruit. 1
Small but fierce
It is a scrapper. Males and females both hold feeding territories and usually win fights with other hummingbirds, and they also chase off bees and butterflies. 1,2
She does it all
On the peninsula it nests from February into November. The female alone builds the nest, a tiny cup decorated with lichen and held together with spider silk, then incubates the two eggs and feeds the chicks. 1
Sources
- Birds of the World (Cornell Lab): Cinnamon Hummingbird (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Cinnamon hummingbird (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Amazilia rutila (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 31,626 records from 2015–2026 from eBird, iNaturalist, and others, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
Tell us where, or ask how to find one.
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