Arima Valley, Trinidad; 16 May 2006 © Steve Garvle

The South American counterpart of the Middle American Shining Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes lucidus), the Purple Honeycreeper’s main range is in Amazonia, but is also found along northern and western coasts of the continent. It is found in a wide variety of forest types, even extending to gardens, partially cleared areas, and plantations, but typically forages in the treetops, often in pairs and frequently joining other species either in roving flocks or at a flowering tree. Males are mainly deep violet-blue with a black throat patch and wings, and bright yellow legs, whilst females are principally green, becoming streaked below, and has a buffy throat and cheeks. The Purple Honeycreeper’s native habitat spans both Portuguese and Spanish speaking regions of northwestern South America, and has corresponding common names. In Portuguese it is known as the Saí-de-Perna-Amarela (CBRO 2010). Whereas in Spanish speaking countries, it is called the Mielerito Cerúleo, which pertains to its foraging of pollen, “miel” means honey or syrup, and Cerúleo relates to its blue feathers (Hilty 2011, de Juana et al. 2012). Originally name by Linnaeus (1758), the etymology of the generic name Cyanerpes is based on the Greek words “kuaneos” meaning dark blue and “herpestes” which translates to a creeping thing (Gotch 1996). The species name caeruleus originated from the Latin word caerulea, which translates to dark blue or sky blue, once again alluding to the male’s glossy blue plumage (Gotch 1996, Jobling 2010).

Recommended Citation

. 2010. Purple Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=615756