The Story
I photographed this Sooty-capped Hermit (Phaethornis augusti) at the Finca Ecoturística Canaguaros, near Tauramena, Casanare, Colombia, in January 2020. It also eats small arthropods and has even been seen catching them inside buildings. Its cone-shaped nest of moss and spider silk can hang from a single strand of silk, and one was found hanging from a nail in a storehouse. Males sing at a lek, wagging the tail while repeating a tsee-tsee-tsee-sew-sew phrase. Its nominate subspecies lives in Venezuela’s Coastal Range and eastern Andes and south along the eastern slope of Colombia’s Eastern Andes. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. It seems to adapt well to habitats modified by people.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Sooty-capped Hermit (Phaethornis augusti) belongs to the family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2018), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List