As bananaquits cover a wide geographic range made up largely of islands, there are a number of subspecies. In the Caribbean region the species has a "highly variable phenotype." This long chain of islands could only have been populated through a process of over-water dispersal. Each island has ended up with its own subspecies of bananaquit. Two main groups are recognized. The Bahamian group includes the Bahamas (C.f. bahamensis), Cayman Islands (C. f. sharpei), coastal islands off of Yucatan (C. f. caboti), and a few others. The Antillean group includes Puerto Rico (C. f. portoricensis), St. Croix (C. f. newtoni), Barbados (C. f. barbadensis), and a few others. The subspecies vary mostly in plumage.
Interestingly, the highly successful bananaquit inhabits basically every island in the Caribbean except for Cuba.
Biologists place C. flaveola in its own group between the warbler and tanager groups (Allen 1961; Morse 1989; Seutin and Gilles 1994).
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Coereba flaveola does not appear to be endangered in any way across its geographic range. It is a rather abundant species in the areas in which it occurs.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Bananaquits often get to flower nectar through the side of the flower. It pierces the flower and retrieves the nectar for its own benefit. This means that the flower is either left unpollinated or will die (Skutch and Stiles 1989).
Coereba flaveola does not benefit humans in many ways. Recent studies have shown that bananaquits, in addition to hummingbirds, pollinate at least three species of Bromelioideae (a subfamily of bromeliad plants).
Peurto Rico has adopted the bananaquit as its national bird, and many Caribbean and South American countries have featured the bird on their postage stamps (Sazima and Sazima 1999).
Coereba flaveola, often compared to hummingbirds, takes flower nectar as its primary source of food. Although it does use its sharp beak to pierce flowers from the side to feed, much like some hummingbirds, the bananaquit cannot hover like a hummingbird. For this reason the bird must always perch while feeding and many times hangs upside down from a branch instead of sitting upright. In addition to nectar, it eats a number of other food items that include fruits, insects, and other small arthropods. The bananaquit enjoys many kinds of fruit, including ripe bananas. It may also pick small insects from the undersides of leaves and eats flies, beetles, caterpillars, ants, bees, and spiders (Allen 1961; Skutch and Stiles 1989).
Coereba flaveola (bananaquit) is common mainly in South America. It is most often found within the range from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and largely eastward throughout South America. It occupies most of the Caribbean Islands and on rare occasions is found in Florida (Merola-Zwartjes 1998).
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
The bananaquit covers a range of habitats within its geographical area. The birds are most commonly found at low elevations and rarely in the high mountainous forests. They are present in open fields, areas of cover, the dense, humid rain forests, and even in certain desert areas. Observers have spotted the bananaquit at a variety of elevations, ranging from sea level up to 4000 ft, but is most commonly seen in the lowlands (usually below 760 ft). Although, C. flaveola is present in many habitats, it is most common in the tropical region in areas with some cover (Allen 1961; Wunderle 1984).
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 83 months.
The tiny adult bananaquit ranges from about 10.5 to 11.5 cm in length. It has a dark, slender, curved beak. Although its plumage varies slightly across its geographic range, the adult plumage is nearly sexually monomorphic. In the male, the feathers on the above side are dark gray, while its crown is more black and the underside/rump is bright yellow. A long, prominent, white eyebrow (supercilium) sits directly above the eye and many times a white spot (speculum) occurs on its generally black wings. The throat is a lighter shade of gray than the back and in certain races the tail-feathers are tipped white. The female bananaquit is very similar, except that her crown is narrowly darker, her throat whitish as opposed to gray, and her rump is more of an olive-yellow shade. The young bananaquit has feathers that are far more dull than its parents' and appear more olive-yellow over its entire body. Certain races of the bananaquit tend to be entirely black, while others lack certain colors or definition in their plumage (Allen 1961; Ridgely and Tudor 1989; Fjeldsa and Krabbe 1990).
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Reproduction varies slightly among the subspecies of C. flaveola. Typically, though, the bananaquit will raise several broods within a year and generally the breeding season lasts for five months. In certain areas the bananaquit breeds at the end of the dry season (March through early August). Breeding is also often synchronized with the first rains early in the wet season. Other times, though, breeding does not show any relationship to the seasonal weather patterns.
Bananaquit broods may contain from one to three eggs. The eggs themselves are a white-cream color (sometimes pinkish) with brown/salmon spots that vary in distribution (Allen 1961; Wunderle 1984).
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
The bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. Before the development of molecular genetics in the 21st century, its relationship to other species was uncertain and it was either placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, with New World warblers in the family Parulidae or in its own monotypic family Coerebidae. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas, and is generally common.
The bananaquit was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Certhia flaveola.[2] Linnaeus based his description on the "black and yellow bird" described by John Ray and Hans Sloane,[3][4] and the "Black and Yellow Creeper" described and illustrated by George Edwards in 1751.[5] The bananaquit was reclassified as the only member of the genus Coereba by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1809.[6] The genus name is of uncertain origin but may be from a Tupi name Güirá for a small black and yellow bird. The specific epithet flaveolus is a diminutive of the Latin flavus meaning "golden" or "yellow".[7]
Before the development of techniques to sequence DNA, the relationship of the bananaquit to other species was uncertain. It was variously placed with the New World warblers in the family Parulidae,[8] with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae,[9] or in its own monotypic family Coerebidae.[10] Based on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies, the bananaquit is now placed in the tanager family Thraupidae and belongs with Darwin's finches to the subfamily Coerebinae.[11][12][13]
It is still unclear if any of the island subspecies should be elevated to species, but phylogenetic studies have revealed three clades: the nominate group from Jamaica, Hispaniola and the Cayman Islands, the bahamensis group from the Bahamas and Quintana Roo, and the bartholemica group from South and Central America, Mexico (except Quintana Roo), the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.[14][15] Several taxa were not sampled,[14][15] but most of these are easily placed in the above groups based on zoogeography alone. Exceptions are oblita (San Andrés Island) and tricolor (Providencia Island), and their placement is therefore uncertain. In February 2010, the International Ornithological Congress listed bahamensis and bartholemica as proposed splits from C. flaveola.[16]
There are 41 currently recognized subspecies:[13]
.jpg)
C. f. aterrima ("normal" and dark morph), Grenada
.jpg)
C. f. bahamensis, Bahamas
.jpg)
C. f. bartholemica, Guadeloupe
_(8).jpg)
C. f. chloropyga, São Paulo, Brazil
C. f. flaveola, Jamaica
.jpg)
C. f. luteola, Trinidad
.jpg)
C. f. mexicana, Costa Rica
C. f. portoricensis, Puerto Rico
C. f. sanctithomae, Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands
The bananaquit is a small bird, although there is some degree of size variation across the various subspecies. Length can range from 4 to 5 in (10 to 13 cm).[17][18] Weight ranges from 5.5 to 19 g (0.19 to 0.67 oz).[19][20]
Most subspecies of the bananaquit have dark grey (almost black) upperparts, black crown and sides of the head, a prominent white eyestripe, grey throat, white vent, and yellow chest, belly and rump. Coloration is heavily influenced by melanocortin 1 receptor variation.[21]
The sexes are alike, but juveniles are duller and often have a partially yellow eyebrow and throat.
In the subspecies bahamensis and caboti from the Bahamas and Cozumel, respectively, the throat and upper chest are white or very pale grey,[22][23] while ferryi from La Tortuga Island has a white forehead.[24] The subspecies laurae, lowii and melanornis from small islands off northern Venezuela are overall blackish,[24] while the subspecies aterrima and atrata from Grenada and Saint Vincent have two plumage morphs, one "normal" and another blackish.[22] The pink gape is usually very prominent in the subspecies from islands in the Caribbean Sea.
The tongue is paddle-shaped, with an extremely long paddle section.[25]
It is resident in tropical South America north to southern Mexico and the Caribbean. It is found throughout the West Indies, except for Cuba.[22] Birds from the Bahamas are rare visitors to Florida.[26]
It occurs in a wide range of open to semi-open habitats, including gardens and parks, but it is rare or absent in deserts, dense forests (e.g. large parts of the Amazon rainforest) and at altitudes above 2,000 m (6,600 ft).[24]
The bananaquit has a slender, curved bill, adapted to taking nectar from flowers, including mistletoes.[27] Nectivory is probably an independent innovation in Coereba.[25] Since then C. flaveola's tongue shape has shown convergent evolution with other birds feeding on the same flowers, and its source flowers have shown convergence to accommodate its tongue.[25] It sometimes pierces flowers from the side, taking the nectar without pollinating the plant - known as nectar robbing.[26][28] It also feeds on fruits - including mistletoe fruits and ripe bananas (hence the common name and bananivora for the Hispaniolan subspecies).[27][29][30] It has been observed taking fruits' sweet juices by puncturing fruit with its beak, and will eat small insects (such as ants and flies), their larvae and other small arthropods (such as spiders) on occasion.[31] While feeding, the bananaquit must always perch, as it cannot hover like a hummingbird.[29]
The bananaquit is known for its ability to adjust remarkably to human environments. It often visits gardens and may become very tame. Its nickname, the sugar bird, comes from its affinity for bowls or bird feeders stocked with granular sugar, a common method of attracting these birds.[29] The bananaquit builds a spherical lined nest with a side entrance hole, laying up to three eggs, which are incubated solely by the female.[32] It may also build its nest in human-made objects, such as lampshades and garden trellises. The birds breed all year regardless of season and build new nests throughout the year.[29]
The bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. Before the development of molecular genetics in the 21st century, its relationship to other species was uncertain and it was either placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, with New World warblers in the family Parulidae or in its own monotypic family Coerebidae. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas, and is generally common.
