Green Honeycreeper
Encyclopedia
The Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) is a small bird
in the tanager
family. It is found in the tropical New World
from southern Mexico
south to Brazil
, and on Trinidad
. It the only member of the genus
Chlorophanes. The Purplish Honeycreeper
(Chlorophanes purpurascens), a bird
from Venezuela known only from the type specimen, is now thought to be an intergeneric hybrid between the Green Honeycreeper and either the Red-legged Honeycreeper
or the Blue Dacnis
.
s, fruit
being its main food (60%), with nectar (20%) and insect
s (15%) as less important components of its diet.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the tanager
Tanager
The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has an American distribution.There were traditionally about 240 species of tanagers, but the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux...
family. It is found in the tropical New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
from southern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
south to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and on Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
. It the only member of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Chlorophanes. The Purplish Honeycreeper
Purplish Honeycreeper
The Purplish Honeycreeper is a bird in the Thraupidae, or Tanager family. It is known only from the type specimen, a trade-skin held in the British Museum, and is thought to be an intergeneric hybrid between the Green Honeycreeper and either the Red-legged Honeycreeper or the Blue Dacnis The...
(Chlorophanes purpurascens), a bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
from Venezuela known only from the type specimen, is now thought to be an intergeneric hybrid between the Green Honeycreeper and either the Red-legged Honeycreeper
Red-legged Honeycreeper
The Red-legged Honeycreeper is a small songbird species in the tanager family . It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba, where possibly introduced.-Description:The Red-legged Honeycreeper is on average...
or the Blue Dacnis
Blue Dacnis
The Blue Dacnis or Turquoise Honeycreeper, Dacnis cayana, is a small passerine bird. This member of the tanager family is found from Nicaragua to Panama, on Trinidad, and in South America south to Bolivia and northern Argentina...
.
Description
The Green Honeycreeper is 13–14 cm (5-5.5 in) long and weighs 14 to 23 grams, averaging about 19 grams. It has a long decurved bill. The male is mainly blue-tinged green with a black head and a mostly bright yellow bill. The female Green Honeycreeper is grass-green, paler on the throat, and lacks the male's iridescence and black head. Immatures are plumaged similar to females. The call is a sharp chip.Behaviour
This is a forest canopy species. The female Green Honeycreeper builds a small cup nest in a tree, and incubates the clutch of two brown-blotched white eggs for 13 days. It is less heavily dependent on nectar than the other honeycreeperHoneycreeper
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....
s, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
being its main food (60%), with nectar (20%) and insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s (15%) as less important components of its diet.
External links
- Green Honeycreeper videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Stamps (for GuyanaGuyanaGuyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, SurinameSurinameSuriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
) with RangeMap - Green Honeycreeper photo gallery VIREO
- Photo-High Res; Article tsgcs.co.uk