Red-legged Honeycreeper
Cyanerpes cyaneus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyThraupidae (Tanagers and Allies)
- GenusCyanerpes (Blue Honeycreepers)
- SpeciesCyanerpes cyaneus (Red-legged Honeycreeper)
About the Red-legged Honeycreeper
The red-legged honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) is a small songbird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is regularly found in Mexico, every Central American country, Trinidad and Tobago, and every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It has also occurred as a vagrant in the United States, Argentina, and some southern Caribbean islands.
The red-legged honeycreeper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae with the binomial Certhia cyanea. Linnaeus based his description on "The Black and Blue Creeper" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the English naturalist George Edwards from a specimen collected in Suriname. The purple honeycreeper was named the type species of the genus Cyanerpes when the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser erected the genus in 1899. The specific epithet cyaneus is a Latin word meaning "dark-blue".
The purplish honeycreeper (Chlorophanes purpurascens), a bird from Venezuela known only from the type specimen, is considered to be an intergeneric hybrid between the green honeycreeper... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Red-legged Honeycreeper in Amacayacu National Natural Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Amacayacu National Natural Park
Purple Honeycreeper
Cyanerpes caeruleus
Silver-beaked Tanager
Ramphocelus carbo
Blue-gray Tanager
Thraupis episcopus
Palm Tanager
Thraupis palmarum
Chestnut-bellied Seedeater
Sporophila castaneiventris
Yellow-bellied Dacnis
Dacnis flaviventer
Turquoise Tanager
Tangara mexicana
Masked Crimson Tanager
Ramphocelus nigrogularis
Red-capped Cardinal
Paroaria gularis
Buff-throated Saltator
Saltator maximus
Wing-barred Seedeater
Sporophila americana
Gray-headed Tanager
Eucometis penicillata
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.