Blue Dacnis

Male
Photo by Luiz
Serrinha do Alambari, Resende, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 2007

Alternative Name: Turquoise Honeycreeper.

Dacnis cayana

Identification

13 cm
Male

• Turquoise
• Black forehead, throat, and back
• Black wings and tail, edged with turquoise
  

Female and immature

• Green upperparts
• Paler green underparts
• Green-edged brown wings
• Blue head

Female
Photo by MKC
Guararema, SP, Brazil, June 2008

Distribution

From Honduras through Central and South America to Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

Eight subspecies are recognized:

• D. c. ultramarina:

• Caribbean slope of north-eastern Honduras to north-western Colombia

• D. c. callaina:

• Western Costa Rica and western Panama (Chiriquí)

• D. c. napaea:

• Tropical northern Colombia

• D. c. baudoana:

• Tropical south-western Colombia (Baudó Mountains) to western Ecuador

• D. c. coerbicolor:

• Central Colombia (Cauca and Magdalena valleys)

• D. c. cayana:

• Eastern Colombia to Venezuela, Guianas, northern and central Brazil; winters to Trinidad

• D. c. glaucogularis:

• Southern Colombia to eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru and western Bolivia

• D. c. paraguayensis:

• Eastern Paraguay to eastern and southern Brazil and north-eastern Argentina

Habitat

Woodlands and forests.

Behaviour

Breeding

It builds a bulky cup nest. The 2 white, brown-blotched eggs are incubated by the female.

Diet

The diet includes insects and fruit.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue Dacnis. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue_Dacnis

External Links

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