Little Hermit (Phaethornis longuemareus)

[order] Apodiformes | [family] Trochilidae | [latin] Phaethornis longuemareus | [UK] Little Hermit | [FR] Ermite nain | [DE] Zwergeremit | [ES] Ermitano Enano | [IT] Eremita minore | [NL] Kleine Heremietkolibrie

Subspecies

Physical charateristics

It is among the smallest hummingbirds with a total length of ca. 9 cm. It is olive-green above with orange-ochraceous uppertail coverts and underparts (the belly often is greyer). As most other hermits, it has a long decurved bill, elongated central rectrices with whitish tips and a blackish mask bordered by a whitish-buff malar and supercilium. The upper mandible is black, the lower is yellow with a black tip. The male has a slightly darker throat than the female.

Listen to the sound of Little Hermit

[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/L/Little Hermit.mp3]

Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto

Range

The Little Hermit (Phaethornis longuemareus) is a hummingbird that is a resident breeder in north-eastern Venezuela, northern Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Trinidad.

Habitat

This lowland species occurs in various semi-open wooded habitats, e.g. mangrove, secondary forest, plantations and scrub. In Trinidad it also occurs in rainforest.

Reproduction

The Little Hermit lays two eggs in a conical nest suspended under a large leaf. Incubation and fledgeling period not reported, but probably as relatives where incubation is 14-16 days, and fledging another 20-23 days.

Feeding habits

The food of this species is nectar, taken from a wide variety of flowers (e.g. Heliconia), and some small insects. It feeds mainly by trap-lining.

Conservation

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 280,000 km2. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population size criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., less than 10,000 mature individuals in conjunction with appropriate decline rates and subpopulation qualifiers). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migration

Sedentary throughout range

Distribution map