Bird Guide

Great-billed Hermit vs Pale-bellied Hermit

Great-billed Hermit (Phaethornis malaris)

Great-billed Hermit

Phaethornis malaris

Tiny6 gForest

The great-billed hermit is 13 to 17.5 cm (5.1 to 6.9 in) long. Males weigh 4.5 to 10 g (0.16 to 0.35 oz) and females 4 to 8 g (0.14 to 0.28 oz). The nominate subspecies is the largest. It has greenish-brown upperparts and brownish to grayish underparts. Its uppertail coverts have dark and light ochre bands and the central tail feathers are long with long white tips. It has a long decurved bill, with the female's being shorter but more curved than the male's. P. m. insolitus is smaller than the nominate but otherwise similar. P. m. moorei has paler, grayer, underparts than the nominate. P. m. Voice: The great-billed hermit's song is generally "a continuous series of single, bisyllablic rising, falling 'slee-up' notes" that differs somewhat among the subspecies. It also makes "a sharp 'skweep!'" call, usually in flight.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jean Baptiste Audebert (1759-1800) · Public domain
Pale-bellied Hermit (Phaethornis anthophilus)

Pale-bellied Hermit

Phaethornis anthophilus

Tiny6 gForest

The pale-bellied hermit is about 13 cm (5.1 in) long. Males weigh 4.5 to 5.5 g (0.16 to 0.19 oz) and females 4 to 5 g (0.14 to 0.18 oz). This medium-sized hermit has dark green to olive green upperparts and light gray underparts. The face has a black "mask" with a buffy supercilium and a mostly white throat. The male's bill is almost straight and the female's is decurved. P. a. hyalinus has more bluish green upperparts and paler underparts than the nominate. Members of the suggested P. a. fuscicapillus have shorter wings and bills than the rest of the nominate. Voice: The pale-bellied hermit's song has not been well described. Its calls are "rather piercing, high-pitched notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Anthony Batista · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great-billed Hermit and Pale-bellied Hermit.