| Honeycreeper | |
|---|---|
| male Red-legged Honeycreeper. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Cyanerpes Oberholser, 1899 |
| Species | |
|
4, See text. |
|
The typical 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 beak than the Cyanerpes group, and is less heavily dependent on nectar.