Bananaquit

About the Bananaquit

The bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. Before the development of molecular genetics in the 21st century, its relationship to other species was uncertain, and it was placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, with New World warblers in the family Parulidae, or its own monotypic family, Coerebidae. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas and is generally common.

Its name derives from its yellow color and the English word quit, which refers to small passerines of tropical America; cf. grassquit, orangequit. Carl Linnaeus formally described the bananaquit in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Certhia flaveola. He based his description on the "black and yellow bird" described by John Ray and Hans Sloane, and the "Black and Yellow Creeper" described and illustrated by George Edwards in 1751. The bananaquit was reclassified as the only member of the genus Coereba by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1809. The genus name is of uncertain origin but may be from a Tupi name Güirá for a small black and yellow bird. The specific epithet flaveolus is... Wikipedia →