The Green HoneycreeperChlorophanes spiza is a small bird in the tanager family. It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Brazil. It the only member of the genus Chlorophanes. This is a bird of the forest canopy.
The green honeycreeper is 5-5.5 in long and weighs 14 to 23 grams, averaging about 19 grams. It has a long decurved bill. The male is mainly blue-tinged green with a black head and a mostly bright yellow bill. The female green honeycreeper is grass-green, paler on the throat, and lacks the male's iridescence and black head. Immatures are plumaged similar to females. The call is a sharp chip.
This is a forest canopy species. The female green honeycreeper builds a small cup nest in a tree, and incubates the clutch of two brown-blotched white eggs for 13 days. It is less heavily dependent on nectar than the other honeycreepers, fruit being its main food (60%), with nectar (20%) and insects (15%) as less important components of its diet. Most of these were photographed at the Peace Lodge and the Talari Mountain Lodge, Costa Rica. The photos 5 and 227 to 243 weere taken at ASA Wright Trinidad.