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White-browed Hermit | Phaethornis stuarti
Wenkbrauwheremietkolibrie | Ermitaño de ceja blanca | Rabo-branco-de-sobrancelha-branca
The White-browed Hermit is a small hermit of south-western Amazonia, in south-eastern Peru and Bolivia. It closely resembles the Reddish Hermit, but is paler below and has a distinct whitish supercilium. It lives in the understorey of forest edges and secondary forest.
Voice
The song is a high, squeaky, repeated phrase from the lek. The call is a thin tsip.
Recording: Fabrice Schmitt — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
9 cm, with a slightly decurved bill and a graduated tail. The upperparts are bronzy green, the rump rufous. The head has a dark mask with a distinct whitish supercilium and malar stripe. The underparts are pale buff to cinnamon, the throat paler. There is no black breast band. The tail is dark with pale tips. The sexes are nearly alike.
Confusion species
Reddish Hermit Phaethornis ruber is brighter rufous below, with a buff rather than whitish supercilium, and the male has a narrow black breast band. Buff-bellied Hermit Phaethornis subochraceus is much larger, with long, white-tipped central tail feathers. Black-throated Hermit Phaethornis atrimentalis has a dark throat stripe and lives further north.
Habitat
Understorey and edges of humid lowland and foothill forest, secondary forest, bamboo forest and riverside scrub, up to about 1100 m. It visits small understorey flowers and catches small arthropods. The nest hangs from the underside of a leaf.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Peru in the lowlands and foothills of the south-east, mainly in Cusco, Madre de Dios and Puno, north to the centre of the country. In Bolivia in the lowlands and foothills of the north and centre, south to Santa Cruz. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the far west of Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Wait at flowering shrubs along forest edges and clearings in the lowlands of Madre de Dios in Peru or in the foothills of Bolivia. Note the whitish supercilium to separate it from Reddish Hermit.
Conservation status
Least Concern. It tolerates secondary forest and forest edges.
Scientific name
Phaethornis stuarti | Hartert, 1897
Hartert described the species in 1897 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Phaethornis was introduced in 1827 by Swainson. The genus name combines Ancient Greek phaethōn, 'sun', with ornis, 'bird'. The species name honours Arthur Joseph Constable-Maxwell-Stuart (1845–1942), Scottish laird of Traquair and collector in Bolivia. The specimen the first description was based on came from Salinas, Río Beni, Bolivia.