Honeycreeper
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Honeycreeper |
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The Honeycreepers are small birds in the tanager family. They are found in the tropical New World from Mexico south to Brazil.
They occur in the forest canopy, and, as the name implies, they are specialist nectar feeders with long curved bills.
The four Cyanerpes species have colourful legs, long wings and a short tail. The males are typically glossy purple-blue and the females greenish.
The Green Honeycreeper is called a Honeycreeper, but belongs to the monotypic Chlorophanes genus. It has a larger, stouter bill than the Cyanerpes group, and is less heavily dependent on nectar.
Honeycreeper is also the name of an independent rock band from upstate New York. [1]
[edit] Species
- Short-billed Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes nitidus
- Shining Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes lucidus
- Purple Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes caeruleus
- Red-legged Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes cyaneus
[edit] References
- Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
[edit] External links
- Honeycreeper videos on the Internet Bird Collection