Long-tailed Hermit vs Sooty-capped Hermit

Long-tailed Hermit

Phaethornis superciliosus

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The adult long-tailed hermit is mainly dull brownish green above with a buff-tinged rump. It has a dark mask through the eye, bordered above and below with whitish-buff stripes. The underparts are pale greyish-buff in colour. The sexes are similar, although the female is slightly smaller. It is the largest of hermit hummingbirds, with a length of around 15 cm (5.9 in) and a body mass of 6.3 g (0.22 oz). During the breeding season, male long-tailed hermits sing in communal leks of up to several dozen birds, and also wiggle their long tails in display.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Conrado Pável de Oliveira · CC BY 4.0

Sooty-capped Hermit

Phaethornis augusti

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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. Voice: The sooty-capped hermit's song is "a continuously repeated phrase consisting of 2–3 high notes followed by 2–3 somewhat lower ones, e.g. 'tsee-tsee-tsee-sew-sew....tsee-tsee-tsee-sew-sew...'." The male sings from a perch at a lek while wagging its tail. It also makes a "rather monotonous 'tseet'" call.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: scaup · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Long-tailed Hermit and Sooty-capped Hermit.