Long-tailed Hermit / Langstaart heremietkolibrie

Long-tailed Hermit (Phaethornis superciliosus)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© N. Takano	© Steven Wytema	© John Mittermeier
© Frank Valk	nest on Brownsberg © Auke Hielkema	© Klaas de Jong

The Long-tailed hermit is a very common sight in the forest , it goes quickly from flower to flower, often low in the forest along a path. And it will often hang still in the air and have a look at the people that walk there. Sometimes you come across a group practising "communal singing". The "leks" where this is practiced, stay on the same places for years. A well known lek is just along a broad path on the Brownsberg. The singing will lead you it.
Photo of an Eastern Long-tailed Hermit (with an abnormal short tail) made by N. Takano on the Brownsberg in August 2004. At the same place Steven Wytema saw the bird of the second photo in May 2005. For research purposes John Mittermeier trapped the bird below that, on the Sipaliwini savanna (and released it).
A Long-tailed Hermit sings/calls in a video made by Dominiek Plouvier.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Long-tailed Hermit © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Phaethornis superciliosus
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae, 35 in Suriname
Dutch:	Langstaart heremietkolibrie
English:	Long-tailed Hermit
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Ermitaño guyanés
Portugese (Brazil):	Besourão-de-rabo-branco
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Ermite à brins blancs

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 415 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 2 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 415 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 2 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).