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LIFE HISTORY OF LONGUEMARE'S HERMIT HUMMINGBIRD.
Author(s) -
Skutch By Alexander F.
Publication year - 1951
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1951.tb05417.x
Subject(s) - nest (protein structural motif) , courtship , hummingbird , biology , hatching , fledge , perch , avian clutch size , zoology , ecology , reproduction , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , biochemistry
SUMMARY1 Observations on Longuemare's Hermit were made in Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. 2 Males gather in courtship assemblies usually amidst dense second‐growth. Each has a favourite perch, where he performs through the day. 3 They sing through most of the year, except from the height of the dry season in February until the rains start in April, and again at the height of the wet season in September and October. 4 The courtship display, an intricate aerial dance above the perching female, is described. 5 The downy nest is built by the female (largely on the wing) beneath the tapering tip of a palm‐frond, or other leaf, 3 to 6 feet above the ground. Cobweb binds the nest to the leaf. 6 The normal clutch is two eggs, laid at about 6 a.m. on alternate or sometimes consecutive days. 7 Occupied nests were found in every month except February and March, September and October (when the males are not in song). 8 The female alone incubates, sitting with breast toward supporting leaf, head thrown far back. To leave, she flies upward and backward; to return, she flies directly down into the pocket of the nest. 9 Incubation period 15–16 days; nestling period 20–21. 10 On the day of hatching, the blind nestlings orient themselves with heads towards the leaf, and so remain until they fly. The female feeds them while she hovers–as though visiting a flower–reaching over their backs and regurgitating into their throats.