The Curious Long-Tailed Hermit
The long-tailed hermit is a hummingbird that is very active in wet lowland forests, especially in the forest edge and old second growth. It usually lives at elevations as high as 1,000 m. At higher elevations the long-tailed hermit is replaced by the green hermit, which is similar in biology and also chooses similar habitats. Car rental Costa Rica
In the Caribbean lowlands, the long-tailed hermit can be commonly seen in Tortuguero National Park, La Selva Biological Station, and in Cahuita. From May to September, it is more common on the southern Pacific slope, particularly at Carara National Park, Villa Lapas, Lapa Ríos, and Corcovado National Park. Costa Rica car rental 4×4
This beautiful bird is curious and assertive. Its amazingly long curved bill may appear before visitors in tropical forests. It hovers until it feels that there is danger and then it simply escapes and flies away as speedily as it appeared.
Other hermits also share the characteristic bill and some also have the extended tail feathers. The bill of this species measures 3.5 to 4 cm, which is nearly one-third of its body length. Their long tail feathers are half as long as the rest of their body.
The long-tailed hermit has bronzy green feathers on its back. It can have a darker brown head to a more tawny lower body and a brownish grey belly and breast. It has clear white stripes above and below the eye. The upper mandible is black, and the lower is a dull orange. This is an interesting characteristic because when it opens its mouth this orange lining usually intimidates its attacker. Females have the same color but are smaller, measuring 15 cm. long and weighing 6 g.
Hermit hummingbirds are solitary travelers, always looking for nectar. The long-tailed hermit can adapt and adjust to the changing rhythms of flower availability. They also like to feed at flowers from which they solely can access the nectar with their particularly shaped bills. Generally, the hermit is thwarted by smaller and more aggressive hummingbirds if it tries to feed on their flowers. Most of these smaller hummingbirds do not try to feed at the hermit’s preferred flowers. The hermit’s favorite flowers usually grow along stream edges in tall second growth or the forest understory and consequently they are usually seen here. These flowers are heliconia, passiflora vitifolia, costus, and aphelandra. They may also pick spiders or insects from webs or vegetation.
Males court females using a lek system, which consists in that about 12 males gather in a dense thicket, often near a stream. Each male defines a territory and sings from his different perches within it. The males vocalize single-note songs, dare each other, and track the others according to their songs. Long-tailed hermits usually start lekking when heliconia flowers are bursting into bloom, which is usually during the months of May and June.
The female builds a nest on the underside of a leaf tip on a palm, banana plant, or heliconia. This way she protects the nest from the rain and she disguises it to thwart off predators. Unfortunately very few offspring survive to adulthood because nests are usually destroyed by other animals.
Visit Costa Rica and its parks, and admire the unique and long-tailed hermit.