Cyanerpes caeruleus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The purple honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus) is a small Neotropical bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Panama, on Trinidad, and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The purple honeycreeper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae with the binomial Certhia caerulea. Linnaeus based his description on "The Blue Creeper" that had been described and illustrated in 1743 by the English naturalist George Edwards from specimens collected in Suriname. The specimens had been mounted in glass cases and were owned by the Duke of Richmond. The purple honeycreeper was reassigned to the genus Cyanerpes by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser
when he erected the genus in 1899. The specific epithet caeruleus is Latin for "dark blue". The purple honeycreeper has these five subspecies: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 2 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Utría National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 7 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 8 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 9 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 11 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 12 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 13 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 14 | Chingaza National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Butterfly World | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Honeycreeper sighting in Tayrona National Natural Park on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 185th most-seen of the 285 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Honeycreeper in Tayrona National Natural Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to November, the lowest months. That is one of Tayrona National Natural Park's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain against 180 mm in October.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple Honeycreeper sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Purple Honeycreeper sightings, Tayrona National Natural Park ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 70%), Sierra de la Macarena National Park (Colombia, about 30%) and Utría National Natural Park (Colombia, about 20%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Honeycreeper is recorded against all the birds logged in Tayrona National Natural Park (25 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
