Short-billed Honeycreeper

About the Short-billed Honeycreeper

The short-billed honeycreeper (Cyanerpes nitidus) is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. The short-billed honeycreeper was formally described in 1847 with the binomial Coereba nitida, as a member of a genus now occupied solely by the bananaquit (C. flaveola). It now shares genus Cyanerpes with three other species. It is monotypic.

The short-billed honeycreeper is 9 cm (3.5 in) to 10.5 cm (4.1 in) long. It weighs about 9 g (0.32 oz). It is the smallest member of its genus and has a somewhat shorter and less decurved bill than the others. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males are mostly purplish blue. They have a small black mask from the lores to just past the eye, a black throat and upper breast, black upperwing coverts, and a short black tail. Adult females have a mostly bright green head and a bright green nape and upperparts. They have dusky lores, a turquoise-green supercilium, and a turquoise-green malar stripe. Their upperwing coverts are bright green and their flight feathers brownish black with wide... Wikipedia →