Huītzilōpōchtli could take the form ('nagual') of hummingbird or eagle, was always depicted in a hummingbird feather headdress. In fact, his name is huītzilin "hummingbird" and ōpōchtli for "south". Aztec warriors who died in battle were reincarnated as hummingbirds.

Huītzilōpōchtli was also the sun god and founder deity of the Aztec people, guiding them to Tenochtitlan as a hummingbird, then as an eagle perched on a cactus. It was his demands for daily sustenance in the form of human sacrifices (tlaxcaltiliztli) that made the Aztec temples so bloody.