Rufous-breasted Hermit

The rufous-breasted hermit or hairy hermit (''Glaucis hirsutus'') is a hummingbird that breeds from Panama south to Bolivia, and on Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada. It is a widespread and generally common species, though local populations may change in numbers and disappear altogether in marginal habitat.

Taxonomy

The rufous-breasted hermit was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other hummingbirds in the genus ''Trochilus'' and coined the binomial name ''Trochilus hirsutus''. Gmelin's description was based on that of the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae'' that had been published 140 years earlier in 1648. The rufous-breasted hermit is now placed with two other species in the genus '' Glaucis'' that was introduced in 1831 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek ''glaukos'' meaning "blue-grey", "glaucous" or "pale green". The specific epithet ''hirsutus'' is Latin meaning "hairy" or "bristled". The type locality is northeast Brazil.

Two subspecies are recognised:
* ''G. h. insularum'' Hellmayr & Seilern, 1913 – Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago
* ''G. h. hirsutus'' (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – Panama and west Colombia through Venezuela and the Guianas to Brazil and north Bolivia

Description

The rufous-breasted hermit is long and weighs on average. The bill measures around and is strongly decurved, long and thin – though compared to the bills of other hummingbirds, it is rather robust. The rufous-breasted hermit has a brownish head, bronze-green upperparts and rufous underparts. The tail has green central feathers and rufous outer feathers, all tipped white. The bill has a yellow lower mandible and a black upper mandible. Sexes are similar, but the male has yellow streaking on the upper mandible, and the female may be slightly duller in plumage. The bill of females is also proportionally a bit shorter (though this is hardly recognizable) and more decurved (which is quite conspicuous in direct comparison).Rodríguez-Flores & Stiles (2005)

Males are somewhat more distinct, resembling a barbthroat (''Threnetes''). They were once described as a distinct species, the "black barbthroat" (''"T. grzimeki"''). Similarly, the proposed subspecies ''abrawayae'' is apparently based on individual variation occurring in adults and not taxonomically distinct either.

The call of this species is a high-pitched ''sweet''.

Behavior and ecology

This hermit inhabits forest undergrowth, often near running water. The rufous-breasted hermit's food is nectar, taken from a variety of understory flowers, and some small invertebrates.

Food and feeding

''G. hirsuta'' has very discriminating feeding habits. It will only visit flowers whose corolla length and curvature precisely matches that of its bill, while most other hummingbirds are far more flexible. Thus, its foodplants are found across almost the entire diversity of angiosperms. Very popular with this bird are Zingiberales, such as '' Costus scaber'' (Costaceae), or '' Heliconia standleyi'' and '' Heliconia stricta'' (Heliconiaceae). Other well-liked foodplants of this hummingbird include Gentianales like ''Duroia hirsuta'', '' Palicourea lasiantha'', '' Psychotria bahiensis'' and '' Psychotria platypoda'' (Rubiaceae), Lamiales such as '' Sanchezia peruviana'' (Acanthaceae) or '' Drymonia semicordata'' (Gesneriaceae), and Myrtales like '' Cuphea melvilla'' (Lythraceae). Even congeneric plants with flowers of slightly different length and curvature are avoided on the other hand.

Given the difference in bill curvature between males and females, it seems likely that the sexes avoid competing for the same food resource by visiting different plants, but there has been little in-depth study. Whether there has been any coevolution between the hairy hermit and its foodplants is more difficult to determine, but if anything, it seems to be less widespread than it could be presumed. Most plants visited by this hummingbird are also pollinated by less discriminating species. But for some (such as ''Cuphea melvilla'', ''Psychotria bahiensis'' and ''P. platypoda'') the hairy hermit seems to be a pollinator of crucial importance, indicating that – though less often than the characteristic bill shape suggests – strong mutualisms between this bird and some of its foodplants do indeed exist.

Breeding

The female rufous-breasted hermit lays two eggs in a small cup nest with a tail, made of rootlets and attached to the underside of a palm, fern or ''Heliconia'' leaf one or two meters (3–6 ft) above ground or so. The nests are often near a stream, waterfall or roadside, and are surprisingly easy to find. Incubation is 17 days with 23 more to fledging, and this species may nest up to four times in a season. The male of this aggressive and inquisitive hummingbird helps to build and defend the nest, but does not incubate the eggs. At least regionally (e.g. in Colombia), the species breeds all year.Greeney ''et al.'' (2004)

References

Sources

* Faria, Christiana M.A.; Rodrigues, Marcos; do Amaral, Frederico Q.; Módena, Érica & Fernandes, Alexandre M. (2006): Aves de um fragmento de Mata Atlântica no alto Rio Doce, Minas Gerais: colonização e extinção he birds of an Atlantic Forest fragment at upper Rio Doce valley, Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil: colonization and extinction ''Revista Brasileira de Zoologia'' 23(4): 1217–1230 ortuguese with English abstract PDF fulltext
* Greeney, Harold F.; Gelis, Rudolphe A. & White, Richard (2004): Notes on breeding birds from an Ecuadorian lowland forest. '' Bull. B.O.C.'' 124(1): 28–37
PDF fulltext
* Mallet-Rodrigues, Francisco (2006): Táxons de aves de validade questionável com ocorrência no Brasil. III – Trochilidae (I) uestionable bird taxa with occurrence in Brazil. III – Trochilidae (I) ''Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia'' 14(4): 475–479 ortuguese with English abstractbr>PDF fulltext
* Rodríguez-Flores, Claudia Isabel & Stiles, F. Gary (2005): Análisis ecomorfológico de una comunidad de colibríes ermitaños (Trochilidae, Phaetorninae) y sus flores en la Amazonia colombiana. comorphological analysis of a community of hermit hummingbirds (Trochilidae, Phaethorninae) and their flowers in Colombian Amazonia ''Ornitología Colombiana'' 3: 7–27 panish with English abstractbr>PDF fulltext

Further reading

* ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (1991): ''A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago'' (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y..
* Hilty, Steven L. (2003): ''Birds of Venezuela''. Christopher Helm, London.

External links

"Hairy Hermit"-''Glaucis hirsuta'' videos
on the Internet Bird Collection
* (for Grenada, Grenadines of Grenada, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago) with RangeMap
Rufous-breasted Hermit photo gallery
VIRE
Photo-High Res-(Close-up)(rufous breast and bill)Photo-Medium Res

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1266303

rufous-breasted hermit
Birds of Panama
Birds of Colombia
Birds of Venezuela
Birds of Trinidad and Tobago
Birds of Grenada
Birds of the Amazon rainforest
Birds of the Guiana Shield
Birds of the Caatinga
Birds of the Atlantic Forest
Hummingbird species of Central America
rufous-breasted hermit
rufous-breasted hermit

Birds of Brazil