The largest hummingbird in Trinidad is the Green Hermit. It measures 6.5 inches in length, it’s actually larger than the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl! This hummingbird is mainly green in color. They have a rather long and decurved bill, as well as long and tapered tail feathers that's white-tipped.
The Green Hermit hummingbird spends most of its time in the undergrowth, feeding on flowers like Heliconias and Gingers, they are also known to take insects. Occasionally they do visit hummingbird feeders but don’t hang around for a long time.
A few years ago I was out on a Christmas Bird Count in La Laja, and we were lucky enough to stumble upon a “Lek”. A Lek is a gathering of males species, for the purposes of competitive courtship.
© Denise Etienne
Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Hermit
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Nigel, I'm not sure why you're referring the link — my guess is you're questioning the length?
ReplyDeleteAccording to "Birds of Trinidad and Tobago" by ffrench it's 6.5", also "Birds of Trinidad and Tobago" by Kenefick and Hayes has it listed at 17cm, however, "Birds of Venezuela" has it listed much smaller, at 5.3".