Green Honeycreeper

How to find it

Look in fruiting trees and bushes, and watch for mixed flocks of tanagers, warblers and other small birds moving through the canopy. Pairs travel together, so when you see one, look for its mate.

Although it is a canopy bird by nature, it comes lower to visit feeders and fruiting bushes, and gardens near rainforest are good places to look. Blooming Heliconia or Costus ginger stands are also worth a patient watch, since the bird sips nectar there. Open Cecropia crowns give good views too.

How to recognise it

Male:

- bright blue-green plumage

- black hood

- bright yellow bill with a dark top ridge

- red eye

Females and young birds are plain green, paler and more yellowish below, with no dark hood. The adult female is larger, brighter and an even green, with a yellow lower bill and grayish legs.

It is a small bird, about 13 cm long and 19 g in weight, so once the light is good the male is easy to pick out, while the green female can vanish into foliage until she moves.

What it sounds like

Recording: Niels Krabbe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 5 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It eats mostly fruit, with some nectar and insects, and it depends on nectar less than the Cyanerpes honeycreepers do. Birds travel through the canopy in pairs and often join mixed flocks of tanagers, warblers and other small birds.

At blooming flowers it sips nectar and may stay at one bloom for a few seconds.

Breeding in Costa Rica runs from April to July. The female builds the nest alone and incubates the eggs for about 13 days, and both parents feed the chicks.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica one source calls it common in the lowlands and foothills of both slopes, often up to about 1,200 m. Another places it on the Caribbean slope from sea level to about 1,000 m, and a third says it reaches about 1,500 m in northern Central America and Costa Rica, so the upper limit varies by source.

The Caribbean slope runs from Tortuguero south through Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge and the forests around Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. Photo records also come from Parque San Luis near San Ramón (957 m) and from Cinchona, both in Alajuela.

When to see it

It does not migrate within Costa Rica, so it is present all year. It moves only locally, following fruit and nectar supplies.

Similar birds

The Red-legged Honeycreeper, which is less common in Costa Rica, is the main look-alike, and the females resemble each other. The Green Honeycreeper female is larger, brighter and an even green, with a yellow lower bill and grayish legs. Plain green birds can also be mistaken for green warblers and vireos.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican names for this bird include Mielero Verde, Rey de Trepadores and Rey del Mar. The genus is called honeycreeper because these birds take flower nectar like bees and hummingbirds.

Status and conservation

It is a resident (R) on the AOCR list, rated Least Concern by the IUCN and described as fairly common in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

The green plumage can wash out in bright canopy light, so watch exposure closely. Fruit feeders and fruiting bushes bring the bird lower, and a male can come very close: one photographer got a nearly full-frame shot of a male in a bush just past a balcony rail in Sarapiquí.