HONEYCREEPER

any of the tropical American birds of the subfamily Coerebinae, family Emberizidae. Birds of the Hawaiian honeycreeper (q.v.) group constitute the family Drepanididae and are commonly referred to as drepanidids. Certain of the 35 species of coerebine honeycreepers are called sugarbirds. Many feed on nectar, in tropical forests and gardens. All are small, most are brilliantly coloured, and many have thin, downcurved bills; the tongue is brushy and may be double-tubed. The red-legged, or blue, honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) of Cuba and Mexico to Ecuador and southern Brazil is 13 centimetres (5 inches) long; the breeding male is shiny blue, with black upperparts and mask. The nest, typically a cup made in a forked twig, usually contains two eggs. Some authors consider the subfamily Coerebinae to be a family; others place the group, or some members of it, with tanagers (Thraupinae) or wood warblers (Parulidae); and still others assign the bananaquit (q.v.), long grouped with the honeycreepers, to Parulidae, putting the remainder of the Coerebinae into a separate subfamily renamed the Dacninae.