Purple Honeycreeper
Cyanerpes caeruleus
Very small tanager, widespread and common in lowlands and foothills of northern South America. Male is indigo-blue with narrow black mask, black throat, and black wings. Note long decurved bill and yellow legs to separate from other honeycreepers in most of range. Female much different: she is mostly green with pale streaking on underparts, a grizzled buffy-brown face, and a blue mustache stripe. Extremely similar to Shining Honeycreeper, but very little range overlap. Male Shining has larger black throat patch and slightly shorter bill; female has duller, grayer crown and less buffy face. Usually in small groups, often accompanying a mixed-species flock in the canopy. Found in forests, edges, and gardens.
识别特征
The purple honeycreeper is 4.5 in (11.5 cm) long, weighs 0.42 oz (12 g) and has a long black decurved bill. The male is purple with black wings, tail and belly, and bright yellow legs. Females and immatures have green upperparts, and green-streaked yellowish-buff underparts. The throat is cinnamon, and there is a blue moustachial stripe. The call of purple honeycreeper is a thin high-pitched zree. The Trinidadian subspecies C. c. longirostris has a longer bill than the mainland forms.
分类信息
The purple honeycreeper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Certhia carrulea. Linnaeus based his description on "The Blue Creeper" that had been described and illustrated in 1743 by the English naturalist George Edwards from specimens collected in Suriname. The specimens had been mounted in glass cases and were owned by the Duke of Richmond. The purple honeycreeper is now placed in the genus Cyanerpes that was introduced in 1899 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser. The specific epithet caeruleus is Latin for "dark blue".<p>Five subspecies are recognised:
- 学名
- Cyanerpes caeruleus
- 命名信息
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- 目
- Passeriformes
- 科
- Thraupidae
- 属
- Cyanerpes
分布与栖息地
The species is a bird of northern South America, and besides the Amazon Basin and the Guianas, a coastal range occurs west of the Andes, including parts of southern Panama. In the south, its range extends to the extreme western Pantanal. Though it is most frequently seen in the lowlands up to 3,300 ft (1,000 m) ASL or so, it has been encountered as high as 7,500 ft (2,300 m) ASL.<p>This is a forest canopy species, but also occurs in cocoa and citrus plantations. At the upper limit of its altitudinal range, it frequents premontane rainforest, usually rather low-growing (33–50 ft/10–15 m) and full of epiphytes and mosses, and even elfin forest and páramo.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
The purple honeycreeper is often found in small groups. It feeds on nectar (particularly from bromeliad and similar flowers, to which its bill shape is adapted), berries and seeds (i.e., Trema and Clusia), fruit (i.e., bananas and papayas) and insects, mainly in the canopy. It is a bold and inquisitive bird, responding readily to the call of the ferruginous pygmy owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) by coming out of cover and searching for the presumed predator to mob it. The female purple honeycreeper builds a small cup nest in a tree, and incubates the clutch of two brown-blotched white eggs.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Hudson's Black-Tyrant
Knipolegus hudsoni
Highly migratory flycatcher that breeds in central Argentina from around September through March, then disperses north to Bolivia and Paraguay, and occasionally wanders even farther. Male is glossy black with a silvery, black-tipped bill. He has a white on the underside of the wing that is usually hidden while perched. Female is brown and buff with white wingbars, cinnamon rump and tail base, and faint mottling on the breast. Very similar to White-winged Black-Tyrant; female is paler on the breast and belly, but males are virtually indistinguishable in the field. Inhabits stunted forest, scrub, and overgrown clearings.
Sichuan Treecreeper
Certhia tianquanensis
Dull, short-billed treecreeper with a white throat, brown upperparts, and brown-suffused pale underparts. Restricted to mature montane coniferous stands, especially fir. Like other treecreepers, scrambles quickly up trunks and along branches with its tail held flat against the bark. Very similar to Hodgson’s Treecreeper, but Sichuan averages darker on the face and belly, with a different song: a long tinkling series of descending high notes. Call is high-pitched and sputtery, like a sped-up version of the song.
Slaty Spinetail
Synallaxis brachyura
Small, dark, and long-tailed. Difficult to see well. Overall gray with rufous wings and crown. Sexes alike. Stays hidden in weedy, tangled undergrowth at the edges of fields and secondary forest. Distinctive song often heard emerging from impenetrable thickets: a low, stuttered chatter.
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