Birds of Ecuador

    PASSERIFORMES: Thraupidae (Tanagers & Allies)  
Genus: Diglossa (8 species, 18 worldwide)

Genus Diglossa, Flowerpiercers, are small tanagers with thin bills with a curved tip used for piercing flowers to extract nectar. Males are generally colorful, while females are often drab shades of brown.


White-sided Flowerpiercer
White-sided Flowerpiercer (Diglossa albilatera albilatera) Male
Rio Blanco Ecological Reserve, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

White-sided Flowerpiercer
White-sided Flowerpiercer (Diglossa albilatera) Female
Rio Blanco Ecological Reserve, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Common flowerpiercer in gardens over 1500m. Look for flashes of white when seen hopping inside flowering bushes piercing flowers.
Acrobatics.
Immature

Bluish Flowerpiercer
Bluish Flowerpiercer (Diglossa caerulescens saturata)
San Sebastian Reserve, Envigado, Antioquia, Colombia
  Bill less hooked than other flowerpiercers.
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Dull blue and black compared to Masked Flowerpiercer. Found inside the forest, and generally not in gardens. Travels in mixed flocks.


Masked Flowerpiercer
Masked Flowerpiercer (Diglossa cyanea cyanea)
Rio Blanco Ecological Reserve, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Piercing a flower
Eating a berry.

Golden-eyed Flowerpiercer
Golden-eyed Flowerpiercer (Diglossa glauca glauca)
Manu, Peru  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Immature with white eye and two color bill.

Black Flowerpiercer
Black Flowerpiercer (Diglossa humeralis aterrima)
Cajas National Park, Ecuador  
   
Photograph by Gary L. Clark     Copyright and usage info

Note matte colored compared to slightly larger Glossy Flowerpiercer. If you are not sure, it is probably a Glossy.

Indigo Flowerpiercer
Indigo Flowerpiercer (Diglossa indigotica)
ProAves Tangaras Reserve, El Carmen de Atrato, Choco, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Found in the rain belt around 1500 meters on the western Andean slope.

Glossy Flowerpiercer
Glossy Flowerpiercer (Diglossa lafresnayii)
PNN Los Nevados, Colombia
  Slightly larger than the Black Flowerpiercer, and shinier. Also compare the bill color to this photo.
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.


Rusty Flowerpiercer
Rusty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa sittoides dorbignyi) Male
Finca Alejandria, Cali, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Rusty Flowerpiercer
Rusty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa sittoides) Female
Colombia  
   
Photograph by Francesco Veronesi     Copyright and usage info

At favorite flowers.


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