Buff-bellied hummingbird

The buff-bellied hummingbird (Amazilia yucatanensis) is a medium-sized hummingbird. It is 10–11 cm (3.9–4.3 in) long and has a mass of 4–5 g (0.14–0.18 oz).

Buff-bellied hummingbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Amazilia
Species:
A. yucatanensis
Binomial name
Amazilia yucatanensis
(Cabot, 1845)
Range of A. yucatanensis
  Wintering range
  Breeding and wintering range
Sabal Palm Sanctuary - Texas (flash photo)
Illustration from John Gould's 1861 monograph: A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds, Volume 5.

Adults are a metallic olive green above and buffy in the lower breast. The tail and primary wings are rufous in colour and slightly forked. The underwing is white. The bill of the male is straight and very slender. It is red in colouration with a darker tip. The throat is a metallic golden green. The female has a dark upper bill, and is less colourful than the male.

Their breeding habitat is forests and thickets that extend from the lower Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas in the United States through the Yucatán Peninsula of eastern Mexico, ending in northern Belize and northwestern Guatemala in Central America. It prefers pine-oak forests, semi-arid scrub and thickets along watercourses. The female builds a nest in a protected location such as a shrub or tree. Both males and females of any age aggressively defend feeding locations within his or her territory. Females lay two white eggs.

This hummingbird is partially migratory. The buff-bellied hummingbird winters in small numbers along the Gulf Coast of the United States from Texas to the Florida panhandle.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers and flowering trees using a long extendable tongue and catch insects on the wing.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Amazilia yucatanensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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