Other Scientific Names
Glaucis hirsuta [BirdLife International (2004)], Glaucis hirsuta [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)], Glaucis hirsuta [Stotz et al. (1996)]
Other Names (World)
Rufous-breasted Hermit, Hairy Hermit
Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Grenada (B), Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Peru, St Kitts And Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Rufous-breasted Hermit (Glaucis hirsutus) [XC223551]
by John V. Moore from La Mision Limestone hills, Falcon, Venezuela (call)
Rufous-breasted Hermit (Glaucis hirsutus) [XC715910]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Taquaral de Goi\u00e1s, Taquaral de Goi\u00e1s, Goi\u00e1s, Brazil (call)
Subspecies
Sister species of Bronzy Hermit (Glaucis aeneus), and these two often considered conspecific, but they meet in western Panama and western Colombia without interbreeding. Present species interrupts former probably continuous distribution of Bronzy Hermit (Glaucis aeneus) and presumably in gradual process of replacing it. Several attempts have been made to subdivide present species into subspecies, with affinis of the Guianas, mazeppa of central-eastern Brazil, and abrawayae of south-eastern Brazil. These were based on plumage differences in immature and adult males and females, but did not take into consideration intraspecific variation in coloration and measurements independent of geography. Only birds from Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago are morphologically separable. Includes "Threnetes grzimeki", based on immature male plumage.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
insularum Hellmayr & Seilern, 1913 - Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago.
hirsutus (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) - Panama, Colombia west of the Andes, and east of the Andes south to central Bolivia, and through Venezuela to the Guianas and almost all of Brazil.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet