Family Thraupidae
Red-legged Honeycreeper
Cyanerpes cyaneus
In Spanish: Mielero Patirrojo (Picudo, Mielero, Tucuso, Trepador)
- Resident
The fruit trees at Talari, San Isidro valley, and forest edges up to 1,200 metres. All year.
Blue bird, red legs. The name does most of the work: the breeding male is purplish blue with an azure cap, his legs and feet are bright red, and when he flies the undersides of his wings flash yellow.
At Talari, in the San Isidro valley, it comes to the fruit trees. It is a restless bird, hopping, flying back and forth and flicking its wings, and it calls almost without a break, so it is rarely quiet for long wherever it is feeding.
Where to see it
- Hotspot page
- Named place
- Nearby lodge (numbers match the cards)
- Los Cusingos and the San Isidro valleyin the fruit trees at Talari, with the Slaty Spinetail in the thickets by the river.
Nearby lodges
Within 20 km of a place on the map, in the same zone.
- 1
Talari Mountain Lodge9.2 km from Los CusingosSee the lodge - 2
Bosque del Tolomuco17.2 km from Los CusingosSee the lodge
How to recognise it
11 to 13 cm and 11 to 18 grams, a little shorter than a ballpoint pen.
The breeding male is bright purplish blue with a shaggy azure crown, yellow under the wings, and red legs. That red settles it. Outside the breeding season the male turns olive like the female but keeps the breeding colours of his wings and tail.
The female is dull olive-green above, with dull reddish legs that brighten when she is breeding.
The calls are buzzy and lisping; one is a thin, whiny chee-eeez.
Where it lives
The edges of large forests, mature secondary forest, clearings with big trees, and shaded coffee and cacao, up to about 1,200 metres in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican form is a bird of the Pacific slope. It visits feeders as well.
When to see it
All year. In Costa Rica it breeds from February to June, which is when the males wear the full blue.
How we know this 1 sources, each read on the date shown
- Wikipedia: Red-legged honeycreeper read 4 November 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-legged_honeycreeper