Red-legged HoneyCreeper

Red-legged Honey Creeper  

Cyanerpes cyanus

Photographed at Toronto Zoo, Toronto, Canada   Sep 2011

Red-legged Honeycreeper is very gregarious outside breeding season. It is often seen in pairs or in small groups of up to 5 to 15 birds, but large flocks of about 100 birds can congregate at food source, such as flowering trees. This Honeycreeper alone is seldom seen without another close by.

Red-legged Honeycreeper usually forages in canopy, searching for insects on small branches, or catching them in flight. It also feeds lower, picking ripe fruits for reaching the seeds inside.

It is able to extract the pulp of an orange through the holes made by woodpeckers. It also takes nectar from flowers, thanks to its long curved bill. These birds are very active and restless.

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