Reddish Hermit
Phaethornis ruber
Tiny and charismatic hermit hummingbird. Note a very contrasting black mask. Dark-olive above and cinnamon below and on the rump. Males have an incomplete black breast band and a shorter tail and wings than females. Common in the lower strata of forests and forest edges where it is fond of Heliconia flowers.
Identification
The reddish hermit is 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long and weighs 1.8 to 3 g (0.06 to 0.11 oz). All subspecies are generally dark green and rufous on the upperparts and cinnamon rufous on the underparts. Males have a black band on the chest and the tail feather have narrow white or reddish tips. Females have lighter underparts than the males. P. r. episcopus is about the same size as the nominate but has orange-rufous rather than cinnamon-rufous underparts and white tips to the tail. P. r. nigricinctus is the smallest subspecies; it has the richest rufous underparts. P. r. longipennis is the largest subspecies. It has a whitish chin and its central tail feathers have rufous tips.
Taxonomy
In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included a picture and a description of the reddish hermit in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The little brown huming-bird". Edwards based his etching on a specimen owned by the Duke of Richmond that had been collected in Suriname. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the reddish hermit with the hummingbirds in the genus Trochilus. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Trochilus ruber, and cited Edwards' work. The specific epithet ruber is a Latin word meaning "red". The type locality is Suriname. The reddish hermit is now placed in the genus Phaethornis that was introduced in 1827 by William Swainson. The reddish hermit has sometimes been considered conspecific with the white-browed hermit (P. stuarti).<p>Four subspecies are recognised:<p>Some introgression has been noted between the nominate P. r. ruber and P. r. longipennis. P. r. episcopus and P. r. nigricinctus might actually be separate species but data to confirm the hypothesis are lacking. The population of P. r. ruber in southeastern Brazil has been proposed as a separate subspecies P. r. pygmaeus but its apparent differences are within the range of variation in the rest of ruber.
- Scientific name
- Phaethornis ruber
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Trochilidae
- Genus
- Phaethornis
Range and habitat
The subspecies of reddish hermit are distributed thus:<p>
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Scarce, yellow-faced woodpecker of lowland and foothill rainforest in western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Both sexes have olive upperparts, strongly barred or scaled underparts, and red wing patch. Male has red crown and mustache stripe; female has little or no red on head. No overlap with the similar White-throated Woodpecker. Forages at middle to upper levels of the forest, sometimes with mixed-species flocks. Call is a harsh scream.
White-tailed Goldenthroat
Polytmus guainumbi
Small hummingbird with a long, curved bill. Males are mostly green with a white lower belly and white undertail feathers. Note the contrasting black mask set off by a white line above and below. Females are paler below than males and have a green-spotted breast. Usually found in grasslands and marshes; often near water.
Arrowhead Piculet
Picumnus minutissimus
Common piculet of coastal forests. Note short-tailed profile, large feet, and cone-shaped bill. Found in mangroves, gardens, abandoned plantations, and disturbed areas. Creeps quietly through vine tangles and bores into dead twigs at lower and middle levels. Similar to Golden-spangled and White-barred Piculets, but Arrowhead has chevron-shaped spots (not barring) on the breast and belly, and is strictly confined to coastal habitats.
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