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White-bearded Hermit | Phaethornis hispidus
Witbaardheremietkolibrie | Ermitaño barbiblanco | Rabo-branco-cinza
The White-bearded Hermit is a grey hermit of the Amazonian lowlands, named for the white stripe down the centre of the throat. It lives mainly in the understorey of riverine forest, on river islands and in secondary forest, less in the interior of tall forest. Like other hermits it flies a fixed route past flowers in the understorey.
Voice
The call is a sharp tsip. Males sing in groups (leks) in the understorey, each from a fixed perch, with a long-repeated, squeaky note, wagging the tail meanwhile.
Recording: Fernando Igor de Godoy — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12–14 cm, with a long, decurved bill with a yellow lower mandible. The upperparts are greyish green, the rump feathers with grey fringes. The underparts are grey, without warm tones. The face shows a dark mask between a white supercilium and a white malar stripe, and a distinct white stripe down the centre of the throat. The central tail feathers are elongated, with broad white tips. The sexes are almost alike.
Confusion species
Great-billed Hermit Phaethornis malaris is larger, with a longer bill and warmer buff underparts. Straight-billed Hermit Phaethornis bourcieri has an almost straight bill and is browner above. Needle-billed Hermit Phaethornis philippii has rufous-orange underparts. Pale-tailed Barbthroat Threnetes leucurus has a black throat and a pale tail without elongated central feathers.
Habitat
Understorey of várzea, riverine forest, river islands, forest edges and secondary forest in the lowlands, and gallery forest in savanna; mostly below 1100 m. It visits flowers of Heliconia and others and also takes small insects and spiders. The nest is a cone-shaped cup, attached with spider silk to the underside of a hanging leaf.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia east of the Andes, in the Llanos and Amazonia. In Ecuador in the Amazonian lowlands. In Peru in the lowlands east of the Andes. In Bolivia in the lowlands of the north and centre. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in southern Venezuela and western Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search along riverbanks, on river islands and in young forest near lodges in the Amazonian lowlands; a bird often returns again and again to the same flowering Heliconia. A lek can be located by the repeated, squeaky song.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates secondary forest and forest edges well.
Scientific name
Phaethornis hispidus | (Gould, 1846)
Gould described the species in 1846 as Trochilus (?) hispidus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Phaethornis was introduced in 1827 by Swainson. The genus name combines Ancient Greek phaethōn, 'sun', with ornis, 'bird'. The species name comes from Latin hispidus, 'shaggy, bristly', probably after the white 'beard' on the throat. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bolivia.