Ron's Critter of the Day

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves (Feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), egg-laying, vertebrates)
Order: Passeriformes (passerines or perching birds) Toes; three pointing forward and one back.
Family: Thraupidae (Tanagers)

Genus/species: Cyanerpes cyaneus

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: The male is violet-blue with black wings, tail and back, and bright red legs. The crown of its head is turquoise, and the underwing, visible only in flight, is lemon yellow. After the breeding season, the male moults into an eclipse plumage, mainly greenish with black wings. Females and immatures are mainly green, with paler, faintly streaked under parts and a pale stripe above the eye. The legs are red-brown in the female, and brown in young birds. Length ave 12.2 cm (4.8 inches).

male

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba. Found at the forest edge, open woodland, cocoa and citrus plantations.

DIET IN THE WILD: Nectar and small insects in flowers. It feeds on ripe fruits, pulp and seeds, taken into the fruit, thanks to the long slender bill. It examines the underside of small twigs and leaves, in order to catch small invertebrates.

REPRODUCTION: The female Red-legged Honeycreeper builds a small cup nest in a tree, and incubates the clutch of two brown-blotched white eggs for 12-13 days, with a further 14 days to fledging.

CONSERVATION: IUCN Red List Least concern (LC)                                                     Due to its extremely large range.

Female

REMARKS: The call of Red-legged Honeycreeper is a thin, high-pitched tsip.

Female

References

EOL eol.org/pages/918134/details

CornellLab of ornithologyneotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/identificati…

IUCN www.iucnredlist.org/details/22723012/0

Ron’s flickr   http://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/sets/72157608454346681/

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-fs