Sooty-capped Hermit

About 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. The sooty-capped hermit is closely related to the planalto hermit (P. pretrei) and may form a superspecies with it. Three subspecies of sooty-capped hermit are recognized, the nominate P. a. augusti, P. a. curiosus, and P. a incanescens. A fourth proposed subspecies P. a. vicarius, in the Colombian Andes, cannot be separated from the nominate.

The sooty-capped hermit is about 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long. Males weigh 4.5 to 6 g (0.16 to 0.21 oz) and females 4 to 5 g (0.14 to 0.18 oz). They are mostly grayish brown above with a rufous rump and uppertail coverts. The next-to-inner tail feathers are longer than the others and all have white tips. Their underparts are gray. The face has a black "mask" with a white supercilium and gular stripe. The subspecies differ slightly in the intensity of the breast and uppertail covert colors and the size of the gular stripe. What was once thought to be a separate species P. fumosus was determined to be a... Wikipedia →