The Buff-bellied Hummingbird (*Amazilia yucatanensis*) is a medium-sized, colorful hummingbird native to the Gulf Coast region of North America, ranging from the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico through Belize and into southern and coastal Texas, where it is one of the few hummingbird species that breeds in the state. It is a handsome bird with an iridescent emerald-green head, throat, and back, a warm buffy-cinnamon belly that gives the species its common name, a bold reddish-pink bill with a dark tip, and a rufous-chestnut tail that contrasts beautifully with its green upperparts. Unlike most hummingbirds in North America that migrate southward in winter, the Buff-bellied Hummingbird exhibits a somewhat unusual reverse migration pattern, with many individuals moving northward and eastward along the Gulf Coast after breeding, occasionally turning up as far as Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida during the fall and winter months. It favors subtropical woodlands, brushy thickets, forest edges, citrus groves, and gardens with flowering plants, feeding on nectar from a variety of blooms while also catching small insects for protein. Bold and assertive by nature, the Buff-bellied Hummingbird is known to vigorously defend favored feeding territories, and its distinctive call — a sharp, descending series of squeaky notes — is often the first clue to its presence in the dense vegetation it prefers.
