The rufous sabrewing has a relatively small range. It is found on the western slope of the highlands from Sierra Madre de Chiapas in the Mexican state of Oaxaca southeast through Guatemala into El Salvador as far as Volcan de San Salvador in El Boqueron NP. It is found in the interior and edges of humid evergreen montane forest, pine-oak forest at an elevation of 3,000 to 6,600 feet and most abundant above 4,300 feet. At Finca El Pilar, where we were, near Antigua, Guatemala, it was an elevation of about 5,200 feet.
It is metallic green above and tawny buff below, with a distinct white spot just behind the eye (the rufous underparts and white spot are diagnostic). The shafts of the two outermost primaries (on the wings) are thickened, particularly at the midpoint, and are recurved, forming the "sabre" for which they are named. It has an all-black bill and the outer tailfeathers are rufous and the inner tailfeathers are green, but my photos don't really illustrate that.
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| Illustration from Birds of the World. |
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| Range from Birds of the World. |
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