The bronzy hermit (''Glaucis aeneus'') is a species of

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

in the family

Trochilidae Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics arou ...

. It is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The bronzy hermit and the

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 cha ...

(''G. hirsutus'') have been considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

but now are treated as a superspecies. The bronzy hermit is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

although the separate Central and South American populations have sometimes been treated as subspecies.Hinkelmann, C., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Bronzy Hermit (''Glaucis aeneus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.broher.01 retrieved November 14, 2021

Description

The bronzy hermit is long. Males weigh and females . The male's bill is decurved and the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

has serrated edges. The female's bill has more curve and no serrations. The sexes' plumages are alike, with bronzy or coppery green upperparts, deep buff thoat and breast, and pale buff belly. The face has a white "moustache" and is otherwise dusky. The upperside of the tail is gray-green with white tips and the underside reddish near the body, blackish in the middle, and white at the tips. The Central American population has slightly longer wings than the South American but their plumages are identical.

Distribution and habitat

The bronzy hermit has two separate populations. One is found from eastern Honduras through eastern Nicaragua and eastern and western Costa Rica into western Panama. The other is found from western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador as far south as

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

. The species inhabits semi-open landscapes such as disturbed

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, mature

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, swamp forest, and shrublands. In elevation it occurs from sea level to in Costa Rica and in Colombia.

Behavior

Movement

The bronzy hermit is believed to be non-migratory throughout its range.

Feeding

The bronzy hermit feeds on nectar at ''

Heliconia ''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...

'' and other plants. Small

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s are also eaten; the latter are usually hover-gleaned from spider webs, leaves, and twigs, and occasionally caught in flight.

Breeding

The bronzy hermit's breeding season varies geographically by has not been fully defined. Its nest is a cone-shaped cup made of plant fibers bound with spider web and decorated with lichens, attached to the underside of a drooping leaf. The clutch size is two eggs.

Vocalization

The bronzy hermit's song is "a high-pitched descending phrase 'tsee-tsee-tsi-tsi-tsitstitsi' irregularly altered with a series of high-pitched 'seee' notes". Its flight call is "a sharp high-pitched 'tzeeet!'."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the bronzy hermit as being of Least Concern, though its population number and trend are not known. It occurs in several protected areas, and is deemed "very common" in Colombia.

References

Additional reading

*''A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica'' by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch *''Hummingbirds of Costa Rica'' by Michael Fogden and Patricia Fogden

External links

Stamps
(with RangeMap) {{Taxonbar, from=Q1271821

bronzy hermit The bronzy hermit (''Glaucis aeneus'') is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The bronzy hermit and the rufous-breaste ...

Hummingbird species of Central America Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena