Green Hermit

Taxobox
name = Green Hermit

---

status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
subclassis = Neornithes
infraclassis = Neognathae

unranked_ordo = Cypselomorphae
ordo = Apodiformes
familia = Trochilidae
subfamilia = Phaethornithinae
genus = "Phaethornis"
species = "P. guy"
binomial = "Phaethornis guy"
binomial_authority = (Lesson, 1833)

The Green Hermit ("Phaethornis guy") is a large hummingbird that is a resident breeder from southern Central America (Costa Rica and Panama) south to northwestern South America (northeastern Venezuela and Trinidad and the northern Andes to eastern Peru)

It is 5.3 in (13.5 cm) long and weighs 0.22 oz (6.3 g). The male Green Hermit 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 long and white-tipped, and are wiggled in display at the communal leks. The reddish bill is long and decurved. The female is duller and sootier grey below, with an even longer bill and tail. The call of this species is a loud "zurk", and the males' lekking "song" is a repeated "swark".

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.

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. for locals' subsistence farming) it will try to avoid secondary foresst as long as better habitat is available. In the Colombian Cordillera Oriental, it has been recorded at altitudes from 2,100-5,700 ft (650-1,750 m) ASL. Habitat there usually has a canopy height of around 82 ft (25 m) and is dominated by trees like "Elaeagia" (Rubiaceae) or palms [E.g. "Iriartea deltoidea" or "Wettinia praemorsa": Salaman "et al." (2002)] ; there is usually plentiful undergrowth and/or epiphytes and hemiepiphytes (e.g. Clusiaceae).Salaman "et al." (2002)]

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 [Recorded at "Besleria triflora", "Columnea anisophylla", "C. lepidocaula", "C. magnifica", "C. microcalyx", "Glossoloma tetragonum" and "Solenophora calycosa": Temeles "et al." (2002)] and Zingiberales [Recorded at "Aphelandra tridentata", "Poikilacanthus macranthus" and "Stenostephanus blepharorachis" (Acanthaceae), and "Renealmia thrysoides" (Zingiberaceae): Temeles "et al." (2002)] , but also certain Bromeliaceae [Recorded at "Guzmania nicaraguensis": Temeles "et al." (2002)] , Campanulaceae [Recorded at "Burmeistera cyclostigmata" and "Centropogon solanifolius": Temeles "et al." (2002)] , Ericaceae [Recorded at "Psammisia ramiflora": Temeles "et al." (2002)] and Rubiaceae [Recorded at "Psychotria elata" and "Ravnia triflora": Temeles "et al." (2002)] . [Temeles "et al." (2002)]

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.

Footnotes

References

*|year=2004|id=48205|title=Phaethornis guy|downloaded=08 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
* (1991): "A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago" (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
* (2003): "Birds of Venezuela". Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
* (2002): New and noteworthy bird records from the east slope of the Andes of Colombia. "Caldasia" 24(1): 157-189. [http://www.unal.edu.co/icn/publicaciones/caldasia/24(1)/240111.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (2002): The role of flower width in hummingbird bill length-flower length relationships. "Biotropica" 34(1): 68-80. doi|10.1111/j.1744-7429.2002.tb00243.x [http://www.amherst.edu/~ejtemeles/Temeles%20et%20al%202002%20biotropica.pdf PDF fulltext]

External links

* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=2979 Green Hermit videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* [http://www.zeledonia.org/galeria/fotos/Phaethornis_guy.jpgGreen Hermit Photo] ; [http://www.zeledonia.org/galeria/trochilidae.html Article]
* [http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/8601100.htm Stamps] (for Trinidad and Tobago) with RangeMap
* [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=green+hermit&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Green Hermit photo gallery] VIREO