Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana)

Identification & Behavior: ~12.5 cm (5 in). The male Blue Dacnis is all blue with black throat, mantle, and tail. The folded wings are blue with black streaks. The female is green with a characteristic blue crown and cheeks. Both sexes have a red iris. It forages in the canopy of forest edges and second growth. The male is similar to a male Black-faced Dacnis but is distinguished by having a blue head (no black mask) and a black throat.

Status: The Blue Dacnis is uncommon and widespread in Amazonia where it is known to range up to 1500 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Dacnis Azul.

Sub-species: Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana glaucogularis), Berlepsch and Stolzmann, 1896.

Meaning of Name: Dacnis: Gr. Daknis= Type of bird from Egypt, otherwise unidentified, mentioned by Hesychius and Pompeius Festus.
cayana: Cayenne or French Guiana. In early ornithology “Cayenne” was often used of species of uncertain provenance presumed to be from Amazonia.

See more of the Family Thraupidae