Green Honeycreeper
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| Chlorophanes spiza (Linnaeus, 1766) |
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 is the only member of the genus Chlorophanes (Reichenbach, 1853).
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.
The Green Honeycreeper is 14 cm long, weighs 17 g, and has a long decurved bill. The male is mainly blue-tinged green with a black head and a mostly bright yellow bill. Females and immatures are plumaged grass green, paler on the throat, and lack the black head. The call is a sharp chip.
The Green Honeycreeper is less heavily dependent on nectar than the other honeycreepers, fruit being its main food (60%), with nectar (20%) and insects (15%) as less important components of its diet.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Chlorophanes spiza. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
