The streak-throated hermit (''Phaethornis rupurumii''), also known as the Rupurumi hermit, 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. It is found in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

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 ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

.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

Taxonomy and systematics

The streak-throated hermit was for a time considered a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the dusky-throated hermit (''P. squalidus''). It has two subspecies, the nominate ''P. r. rupurumii'' and ''P. r. amazonicus''. They are geographically separated and the latter might be a full species.Hinkelmann, C., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Streak-throated Hermit (''Phaethornis rupurumii''), 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.stther1.01 retrieved November 25, 2021

Description

The streak-throated hermit is long and weighs . It is generally brownish with a greenish back and brownish gray underparts. It has a black "mask" and 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 malar stripe and a very dark brown throat that appears streaky. The sexes are generally alike.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of streak-throated hermit is found from the extreme eastern part of Colombia's

Vichada Department Vichada Department ( es, Departamento del Vichada, link=no, ) is a department of the Republic of Colombia in South America. Vichada is located in the eastern plains of Colombia, in the Orinoquía Region within the Orinoco river basin bordering ...

through central and eastern Venezuela and western Guyana into northern Brazil's

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

state. ''P. r. amazonicus'' is found in north-central Brazil along the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

east of the

Negro River Río Negro (Spanish and Portuguese, 'Black River') may refer to: Rivers Brazil * Rio Negro (Amazon), tributary of the Amazon River * Rio Negro (Mato Grosso do Sul) * Rio Negro (Paraná) * Rio Negro (Rio de Janeiro) * Rio Negro (Rondônia) * ...

. The species inhabits the understory at the edges of

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

and the interior of '' várzea'' forest. It also inhabits drier and more open landscapes such as

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical woody spec ...

and

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, scrublands, river islands, and

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. ...

. It is primarily a bird of the lowlands but reaches as high as in Venezuela and Guyana.

Behavior

Movement

The streak-throated hermit is believed to be sedentary.

Feeding

The streak-throated hermit feeds on nectar and also on 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, but details of its diet and foraging technique have not been published.

Breeding

The streak-throated hermit's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

has not been documented.

Vocalization

The streak-throated hermit's song is "an incessant 'tsi tsi jéb dé tsi tsi jéb dé' or 'eesee-eesee-eesee, eesee-eesee-eesee-swur'", typically sung from a perch near the ground.

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 streak-throated hermit as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are not known. It is very poorly known but appears to be locally common.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1273366 streak-throated hermit Hummingbird species of South America Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of the Venezuelan Amazon streak-throated hermit streak-throated hermit Taxonomy articles created by Polbot