Bird
Bird
Blue Dacnis
Dacnis cayana
The Blue Dacnis is a small, vividly coloured songbird of Trinidad's forest canopy, the male a brilliant turquoise-blue with a black throat and back, and the female an equally attractive but very differently coloured bright green, often foraging together with tanagers and honeycreepers.
The Blue Dacnis is a small, vividly coloured songbird of Trinidad's forest canopy, the male a brilliant turquoise-blue with a black throat and back, and the female an equally attractive but very differently coloured bright green, often foraging together with tanagers and honeycreepers.
Identification
A small bird around 12 to 13.5 cm long. The male is bright turquoise-blue overall with a black back, throat, and flight feathers, and red eyes. The female is bright green above and paler, more yellowish-green below, with a blue-green head, entirely different from the male and easily mistaken for an unrelated species by inexperienced observers. The bill is short, thin, and slightly downcurved.
Ecology
The Blue Dacnis feeds on small fruit, nectar, and insects, foraging actively in the forest canopy and at forest edge, frequently joining mixed-species foraging flocks with tanagers and honeycreepers. It plays a minor role in seed dispersal and pollination through its foraging habits. Nests are small, neat cups built by the female in the outer branches of a tree or shrub.
Status in T&T
Found in forest and forest edge across Trinidad. It is not threatened. It is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife Act and is not a game species.
Threats
- Forest clearance and fragmentation
