All species › Passerines › Tanagers and allies › Red-legged Honeycreeper
Red-legged Honeycreeper | Cyanerpes cyaneus
Blauwe suikervogel | Mielero patirrojo | Saíra-beija-flor
The Red-legged Honeycreeper is a honeycreeper of forest edges, open woodland and plantations in the lowlands. The male is purplish blue with a pale turquoise crown, a black back and bright red legs; in flight the lemon-yellow underwings stand out. Small groups often visit flowering and fruiting trees together with other honeycreepers and tanagers.
Voice
Gives a thin, high tseet and a nasal, slightly harsh cheep or chooey; the song is a simple series of such calls.
Recording: FREDERIC Lionel — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12 cm, with a fairly long, slightly curved black bill. The male is purplish blue with a pale turquoise crown, a black loral stripe, a black mantle and black wings and tail; the underwings are lemon-yellow and the legs bright red. Outside the breeding season the male resembles the female but keeps black wings and tail. The female is dull olive-green with a pale supercilium, yellowish green and faintly streaked below; the legs are dull red. Juveniles resemble the female.
Confusion species
Purple Honeycreeper Cyanerpes caeruleus has no turquoise crown or black back, but has a black throat and yellow legs; the female has an ochre head. Short-billed Honeycreeper Cyanerpes nitidus is smaller, with a short bill and a black bib. Male Blue Dacnis Dacnis cayana is turquoise-blue with a shorter, pointed bill, a black throat and grey legs.
Habitat
Edges and canopy of humid and semi-humid forest, secondary forest, open woodland, plantations, gardens and parks with flowering or fruiting trees, mostly below 1200 m. It eats nectar, fruit and insects; it often travels with mixed flocks and outside the breeding season sometimes forms large groups. The nest is a small cup in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia widespread in the lowlands and foothills, both in the Caribbean north and the Chocó and east of the Andes. In Ecuador on both sides of the Andes, in the west also in semi-humid areas. In Peru in the lowlands and foothills east of the Andes. In Bolivia in the north and along the base of the Andes. Does not occur on the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from southern Mexico and Cuba through Central America to Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
At flowering trees, fruit feeders and forest edges at lodges in the lowlands; in flight look for the yellow underwings and, in the male, the turquoise crown and red legs.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Widespread and common; tolerates disturbed and semi-open landscapes with trees.
Scientific name
Cyanerpes cyaneus | (Linnaeus, 1766)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Certhia cyanea; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cyanerpes was introduced in 1899 by Oberholser. The genus name combines Greek kuanos, 'dark blue', and herpēs, 'creeper'. The species name is Latin cyaneus, 'dark blue'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname.