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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Red-legged Honeycreeper

Cyanerpes cyaneus

• rare
• 32 km/h
• Least Concern

Males turn dazzling violet-blue in breeding season, then molt back to green. The only honeycreeper with red legs.

Population

5-50 million mature individuals (declining trend)

Habitat

Forest edges, open woodland, swamp forest, dry savanna, degraded/second growth, and rural gardens/plantations (e.g. cocoa, citrus); occurs from sea level to about 1,200 m elevation

Fun fact

Breeding male Red-legged Honeycreepers are violet-blue with a turquoise crown and bright red-orange legs, but they molt into a duller, mostly green "eclipse" plumage after the breeding season, resembling the females.

Range

Southern Mexico through Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama) and into South America (Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and central/northern Brazil); also Trinidad and Tobago, with occasional records in Cuba, Jamaica, and southern Texas

Diet

Omnivorous: nectar from flowering trees, fruit, seeds, and insects; a specialized brush/tubular tongue aids nectar feeding

Size

0.122 m