Digital Tobago- Avifauna A-Z : Bananaquit

There is a great deal of confusion about just which family or sub family this loosely fitting range of birds belong to. Some authors now place most honeycreepers into either Emberizidae or Tanager families, while others place the Bananquit as the only remaining member of the Coeredidae family. What can be said is that the Honeycreepers are small brightly coloured tropical American birds that feed on fruit, nectar and small insects.

Also known as Passerine’s or pearching bird’s. Any member of the largest avian order which includes more than 5,700 species, more than half of all living birds. Passerine’s are true perching birds with four toed feet, three toes facing forward and one larger toe facing backwards.

Ranging from tropical South America north to southern Mexico and throughout the West Indies the Bananaquit is adapted to taking nectar from flowers with it’s slender decurved bill, however it is known for piercing longer flowers from the side therefore bypassing pollination of the flower. It cannot hover like hummingbirds but perches, either on an adjacent stem or branch, or, due to it’s light weight, directly on the flower, often causing fatal damage to the bloom itself. It also eats fruit and insects and has a particular ‘sweet tooth’ often entering homes and restaurants where it will boldly take sugar or dig holes in bread. They are even know to nest inside of chandeliers or other suitable nesting spots inside of a house. The Bananaquit will build two nests during breeding, the first a spherical nest with side entrance where three eggs are laid. The second nest is not as well constructed and believed to be used for a night roost. The male often leaves the female to care for the brood to find a second mate. Both sexes and juveniles are similar having bright yellow to grey underparts, black upperparts and a white superciliary streak.