Saw-billed Hermit

Saw-billed Hermit

Ramphodon naevius

Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR Endemic
Daily sighting probability ~50% · Likely
at Serra dos Órgãos National Park

In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%

323 Verified sightings at Serra dos Órgãos National Park From 2019 to 2026
323 In 1 park
July Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Saw-billed Hermit

The saw-billed hermit (Ramphodon naevius) is a hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is endemic to Brazil. The saw-billed hermit is placed in the hermit subfamily Phaethornithinae, but among these birds, it is the species most similar to the typical hummingbirds, Trochilinae. It is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies.

The saw-billed hermit is 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in) long and weighs 5.3 to 9 g (0.19 to 0.32 oz). It is one of the three heaviest hermits and the male is heavier than the female. Both sexes have saw-like serrations on the mandible and the male's bill has a hooked tip as well. (The unrelated tooth-billed hummingbird (Androdon aequatorialis) is the only other hummingbird that has a serrated bill.) Both sexes have scaly brown upperparts and dark and pale striped underparts. They have a reddish ochre throat, a dark patch through the eye, and a white supercilium. The upper side of the tail is purplish black while the underside has progressively more buff at the ends to the outer pair of feathers.

The saw-billed hermit is found in a narrow band of southeastern Brazil from the... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Flight call0:39

Brazil · 2020

© Fernando Igor de Godoy · XC705797 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Recording0:06

Brazil · 2015

© András Schmidt · XC699404 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:12

Brazil · 2021

© JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA · XC678135 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Serra dos Órgãos National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~50%

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Santos 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Saw-billed Hermit in Serra dos Órgãos National Park?

Likely

About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Saw-billed Hermit sighting in Serra dos Órgãos National Park on a given day, based on 323 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 33rd most-seen of the 336 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Saw-billed Hermit in Serra dos Órgãos National Park?

July

In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Saw-billed Hermit in Serra dos Órgãos National Park on a given day, against about 30% in November, the lowest month. That is one of Serra dos Órgãos National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain against 310 mm in November.

What time of day is best to see a Saw-billed Hermit?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Saw-billed Hermit sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where else can you see a Saw-billed Hermit?

Only Serra dos Órgãos National Park, in our data

Serra dos Órgãos National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Saw-billed Hermit sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.

Which relatives of the Saw-billed Hermit live in Serra dos Órgãos National Park?

Same family: Trochilidae

The closest relatives of the Saw-billed Hermit that you can see in Serra dos Órgãos National Park (family Trochilidae, Hummingbirds) are Violet-capped Woodnymph (about 70%), Sombre Hummingbird (about 50%) and Swallow-tailed Hummingbird (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Saw-billed Hermit sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Saw-billed Hermit is recorded against all the birds logged in Serra dos Órgãos National Park (323 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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