Green Hermit
Phaethornis guy
Large hummingbird with long white-tipped central tail feathers. Male is entirely blue-green; female has gray belly, green back, and obvious stripes on face. Bill extremely long and decurved. Found in forest, but also visits feeders at forest edge. Not easy to see away from feeders; often flies through the forest understory very quickly, occasionally stopping to feed at flowers.
Identification
It is 13.5 cm (5.3 in) long and weighs 6.3 g (0.22 oz). The male is mainly dark green with a blue-green rump. It has a dark mask through the eye, with buff stripes above and below this, and down the centre of the throat. The central feathers of the tapered tail are—for large hermit—relatively short and white-tipped, and are wiggled in display at the communal leks. The reddish bill is long and decurved. The female is sooty gray (rather than green) below, with an even longer bill and a much longer tail. The call of this species is a loud zurk, and the males' lekking "song" is a repeated swark.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Phaethornis guy
- Authority
- (Lesson, RP, 1833)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Phaethornis
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies Phaethornis guy guy is found in Venezuela and Trinidad. The western P. g. apicalis of the American cordillera is slightly smaller and the sexes more similar.<p>This hermit inhabits forest undergrowth, usually near water, and prefers hilly areas. It seems to favor primary rainforest and wet premontane forest, and though it tolerates some amount of habitat destruction (e.g. subsistence farmland) it will try to avoid secondary forest as long as better habitat is available. In the Colombian Cordillera Oriental, it has been recorded at altitudes from 650–1,750 m (2,130–5,740 ft) ASL. Habitat there usually has a canopy height of around 25 m (82 ft) and is dominated by trees such as Elaeagia (Rubiaceae) or palms; there is usually plentiful undergrowth and/or epiphytes and hemiepiphytes (e.g. Clusiaceae).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The food of this species is nectar, taken from a wide variety of flowers, and some small insects; it prefers flowers 30–50 mm long by 2–7 mm wide, though it will occasionally visit flowers up to 75 mm long and 20 mm wide or as short as 15 mm. At Monteverde (Costa Rica), preferred foodplants include yellow jacobinia (Justicia umbrosa) and Razisea spicata (Acanthaceae), Pitcairnia brittoniana (Bromeliaceae), spiral ginger (Costus barbatus, Costaceae), Drymonia conchocalyx and D. rubra (Gesneriaceae), Heliconia tortuosa (Heliconiaceae), and Malvaviscus palmanus (Malvaceae). Less commonly visited flowers were mostly Gesneriaceae, Heliconiaceae (such as Heliconia bihai), Acanthaceae (such as Pachystachys coccinea) and Zingiberales, but also certain Bromeliaceae (such as Tillandsia fasciculata) Campanulaceae (such as Centropogon surinamensis), Ericaceae and Rubiaceae.<p>As noted above, males assemble at leks for courtship. In the Colombian Cordillera Oriental, active leks were observed between September and November, but neither in August nor in December, indicating a distinct breeding season. The green hermit lays one egg in a conical nest suspended under a large leaf, usually over water. Incubation is 17–18 days, and fledging another 21 to 23 days.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Sabine's Puffback
Dryoscopus sabini
A relatively large-billed shrike-like bird primarily found in lowland forest canopy. Male is white below and iridescent black above except for a white rump. The female is overall reddish brown, with more reddish wings and a grayish hood. Similar to several bicolored shrikelike birds in the region, but note Sabine’s Puffback’s large bill, striking sexual dimorphism, and unique song, which consists of a distinctive series of long whistles descending in pitch before arriving at a single repeated pitch, growing louder, and then ending suddenly. Songs can sometimes last several minutes, and are more reminiscent of some Yellow Longbill songs than of the songs of other puffbacks. Calls include typical puffback-like rattles and harsh calls.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Sitta carolinensis
The largest nuthatch in North America, with distinctive white face, black cap, and blue-gray upperparts. Also note rusty lower belly and undertail coverts. Females have a slightly paler crown than males. Fairly common and widespread, usually in mature woodlands with large trees. Creeps along tree trunks and branches, often upside-down. Sometimes joins mixed flocks with other songbirds. Visits feeders. Listen for insistent yammering calls. Some subtle variation across range, mainly in the darkness of the sides and back, width of the black crown, and vocalizations.
Western Long-tailed Hornbill
Horizocerus albocristatus
A small-bodied hornbill with an extremely long tail, a dark bill, and an almost entirely white head with a unique crest. Usually found in thick rainforest, where it can be difficult to view. At times, these birds will follow troops of monkeys to eat animals they scare out of the foliage. Vocalizations are unique among African hornbills, including crowlike caws and long mournful wails. Calls can be similar to those of Congo Serpent-Eagle, but White-crested Hornbill often gives more of a wail with a somewhat raspy quality.
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