Short-billed Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes nitidus)

Identification & Behavior: ~9.5 cm (4 in). The male Short-billed Honeycreeper is all bright blue with black wings, throat, and tail.  The female is green above with a characteristic blue malar spot. The throat is buffy and grades to a striped green and grayish rest of the underparts. The legs are reddish. It forages in the canopy of mature forest nearly always in the company of mixed species flocks. The very similar male Purple Honeycreeper has bright yellow legs. The female is distinguished by having buff lores.  The Short-billed Honeycreeper has a shorter and straighter bill than other honeycreepers. Also, see Red-legged Honeycreeper.

Status: The Short-billed Honeycreeper is uncommon in Amazonia, generally restricted to Loreto and northern Ucayali. It is known to range at elevations of up to 950 m along the foothill of the Andes. The Short-billed Honeycreeper also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Mielero de Pico Corto.

Sub-species: Short-billed Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes nitidus), (Hartlaub), 1847.

Meaning of Name: Cyanerpes: Gr. kuanos= dark-blue and herpes, herpo= creeper, creeping, to crawl. nitidus: L. nitidus brilliant, glittering.

See more of the Family Thraupidae