Blue dacnis | |
---|---|
Adult male | |
Adult female in São Paulo, Brazil | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Thraupidae |
Genus: | Dacnis |
Species: | D. cayana |
Binomial name | |
Dacnis cayana (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
Synonyms | |
|
The blue dacnis or turquoise honeycreeper (Dacnis cayana) is a small passerine bird. This member of the tanager family is found from Nicaragua to Panama, on Trinidad, and in South America south to Bolivia and northern Argentina. It is widespread and often common, especially in parts of its South American range.
In 1760, the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the blue dacnis in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne in French Guiana. He used the French name Le Pepit bleu de Cayenne and the Latin name Sylvia cayanensis caerulea. [2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. [3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. [3] One of these was the blue dacnis. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined the binomial name Motacilla cayana and cited Brisson's work. [4] The specific name cayana is from Cayenne. [5] This species is now placed in the genus Dacnis that was introduced in 1816 by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier with the blue dacnis as the type species. [6] [7]
Eight subspecies are recognised: [7]
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 and either the red-legged honeycreeper or the blue dacnis. [8]
The blue dacnis is 12.7 cm long and weighs 13 g. Despite its alternative name, it is not a honeycreeper, which are longer-billed. The adult male is turquoise blue with a black around the eyes, and on the throat and back. The wings and tail are black, edged with turquoise. The female and immature are mainly green with a blue head, paler green underparts and green-edged brown wings. The blue dacnis's call is a thin tsip.
The blue dacnis occurs in forests and other woodlands, including gardens and parks.
The bulky cup nest is built in a tree and the normal clutch is of two to three grey-blotched whitish eggs. The female incubates the eggs, but is fed by the male. [9]
These are social birds which eat mainly insects gleaned from foliage, flowers or bromeliads. Fruit (such as licorice, Cecropia , Clusia , Miconia , berries, figs and bananas) [10] is often taken and usually swallowed whole, but nectar is rarely consumed.
The yellow-billed oxpecker is a passerine bird in the family Buphagidae. It was previously placed in the starling and myna family, Sturnidae.
The blue-gray tanager is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima (Peru). On Trinidad and Tobago, this bird is called blue jean.
The turquoise tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is a resident bird from Trinidad, much of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela south to Bolivia. It is restricted to areas with humid forest, with its primary distribution being the Amazon. It was formerly treated as being conspecific with the white-bellied tanager which is found in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil.
The green honeycreeper is a small bird in the tanager family. It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Brazil, and on Trinidad. It is the only member of the genus Chlorophanes.
The red-legged honeycreeper is a small songbird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba, where possibly introduced. It is also rarely found in southern Texas.
The lineated woodpecker is a very large woodpecker which is a resident breeding bird from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Trinidad in the Caribbean.
The black-tailed tityra is a medium-sized passerine bird of tropical South America. The tityras have been placed in the cotinga or the tyrant flycatcher families by various authors. But the weight of evidence strongly suggest they and their closest relatives are better separated as Tityridae; the AOU for example advocates this separation.
The yellow-green grosbeak is a species of grosbeak in the family Cardinalidae.
The plain-breasted ground dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It lacks the scaled appearance to the feathers of the similar and typically more abundant common ground dove.
The red-rumped cacique is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is a species of the Amazon Basin and the Guyanas in northern South America, and is only coastal there in the Guyanas and the Amazon River outlet to the Atlantic; a separate large disjunct range exists in all of south-eastern and coastal Brazil, including Paraguay, and parts of north-eastern Argentina. It is also found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The spangled cotinga is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae, the cotingas. It is found in the canopy of the Amazon Rainforest in South America.
The plum-throated cotinga is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest.
The Cayenne jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.
The purple-throated euphonia is a songbird species in the family Fringillidae. It was formerly placed in the Thraupidae.
The rusty-margined flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers.
The flame-crested tanager is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. Ten subspecies are currently recognized.
The fulvous-crested tanager is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers.
The burnished-buff tanager, also known as the rufous-crowned tanager, is a common South American species of bird in the family Thraupidae.
The white-bellied tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is a resident bird of the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil. It is restricted to areas with humid forest. It was formerly considered as a subspecies of the turquoise tanager.
The purplish honeycreeper is a bird in the Thraupidae, or tanager family. It is known only from the type specimen, a trade-skin held in the British Museum, and is thought to be an intergeneric hybrid between the green honeycreeper and either the red-legged honeycreeper or the blue dacnis, though Hellmayr, in his Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands, considered it a good species.