The planalto hermit (''Phaethornis pretrei'') is a species of bird in the family Trochilidae, the

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 ...

s. It is found in Argentina,

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved August 24, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

At one time, the planalto hermit was suggested to belong to a monotypic genus ''Anisoterus'' but this treatment was quickly rejected.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021 It is closely related to the

sooty-capped hermit The sooty-capped hermit (''Phaethornis augusti'') is a species of bird in the family Trochilidae, the hummingbirds. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, ...

(''P. augusti'') and may form a superspecies with it. It has no recognized subspecies, but several that have been proposed have been shown to be based on aberrant specimens or individual variation.Hinkelmann, C., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Planalto Hermit (''Phaethornis pretrei''), 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.plaher1.01 retrieved November 30, 2021

Description

The planalto hermit is about long. Males weigh and females . This medium-sized hermit has mostly olive green upperparts with reddish uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

. The next-to-inner tail feathers are longer than the others and all have white tips. Their underparts are cinnamon red. The face has a black "mask" with a white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

and gular stripe. The sexes are similar but the female has shorter wings and a less strongly decurved bill.

Distribution and habitat

Major taxonomic systems place the planalto hermit in a wide swath of Brazil south of the Amazon rainforest, eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina and much of Paraguay.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021 The South American Classification Committee (SACC) of the American Ornithological Society places the species in those four countries and also notes many records in Peru. It inhabits a variety of landscapes including non-forested but "vegetation-rich" areas, dry forest,

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. ...

, and gallery forest. It is also found in human-modified environments as long as trees and herbs are present. In elevation it ranges from .

Behavior

Movement

The planalto hermit is thought to be partly migratory in some parts of its range but definitive data are not available.

Feeding

The planalto hermit is probably a " trap-line" feeder like other hermit hummingbirds, visiting a circuit of flowering plants for nectar. It also consumes small arthropods.

Breeding

The planalto hermit's nesting season is not fully defined but appears to span from August to April. Its nest is a long cone-shaped cup made of plant material and spider web. In contrast to most other ''Phaethornis'' hermits, it hangs the nest from a vertical branch, in a cavity of a rock face, and also in or under human structures like culverts, bridges, and abandoned buildings. The clutch size is two eggs.

Vocalization

The planalto hermit's song is variable, "often a sequence of evenly-spaced, alternating, single and double notes, e.g. 'ti-tsi...tsi...tsi...tsi...ti-tsi...tsi..tsi', but also sometimes triple-noted phrases such as 'chu-tsi-tsi...chu-tsi-tsi...chu-tsi-tsi...'."

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 planalto hermit as being of Least Concern. Though its population size and trend are unknown, it is common throughout its large range, occurs in several protected areas, and is well adapted to human-made environments such as gardens and city parks.

References

External links

Stamps
(for Brazil) (incorrect RangeMap)
Planalto Hermit photo gallery
VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q204159 planalto hermit Birds of the Caatinga Birds of the Cerrado Birds of the Pantanal Birds of Brazil Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay Hummingbird species of South America planalto hermit Taxonomy articles created by Polbot