All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Golden-eyed Flowerpiercer
Golden-eyed Flowerpiercer | Diglossa glauca
Goudoogberghoningkruiper | Pinchaflor ojidorado | Fura-flor-de-olho-dourado
The Golden-eyed Flowerpiercer is a small, deep dark-blue flowerpiercer with a golden-yellow eye, found in humid montane forest on the eastern slope of the Andes. It lives lower than most of its relatives and often moves through the canopy with mixed flocks of tanagers.
Voice
The song is a high, fast, hissing series of notes; the call is a fine tsit.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12 cm, with a short, upturned bill with a hooked tip. Entirely deep ultramarine to dark blue, with blackish lores, forehead and wings and a golden-yellow eye. The female is slightly duller. Juveniles are greyer, with a darker eye.
Confusion species
Bluish Flowerpiercer Diglossa caerulescens is paler, greyer blue and usually lives higher. Masked Flowerpiercer Diglossa cyanea is larger, with a black mask and a red eye, and lives higher. Indigo Flowerpiercer Diglossa indigotica is brighter blue, with a red eye, and lives on the western slope. Blue dacnises (Dacnis) have a straight, pointed bill without a hook.
Habitat
The interior and edges of humid montane forest on the eastern slope, mostly between about 1000 and 2400 m. It forages in the middle and upper levels of the trees for nectar and insects, often in mixed flocks. The nest is a cup in a tree or shrub.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia on the eastern slope of the Andes in the south. In Ecuador along the eastern slope of the Andes. In Peru along the eastern slope over almost the whole length of the country. In Bolivia on the eastern slope in La Paz and Cochabamba. Absent from the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search mixed flocks along mountain roads on the eastern slope, for example in the Yungas; look for a small dark-blue bird with a pale eye.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Fairly common in a large range; deforestation of the lower slopes is a local threat.
Scientific name
Diglossa glauca | Sclater & Salvin, 1876
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1876 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Diglossa was introduced in 1832 by Wagler. The genus name comes from Greek diglōssos, 'double-tongued' or 'speaking two languages'. The specific name comes from Latin glaucus (Greek glaukos), 'bluish grey, sea-green'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Nairapi, Bolivia.