Green Honeycreeper
Chlorophanes spiza

One of my better stills to date, of a female Green Honeycreeper, at extremely close range at the the Canopy Lodge in El Valle.


Green Honeycreeper is a rather common bird within its range in the neotropics. It is a pretty regular experience for a birder scanning mixed flocks of tanagers in fruit-bearing trees to find Green Honeycreepers in their binocular view more often than any other bird. I filmed this bird from the viewing platform of Panama's Canopy Tower in August of 2003.  


The stunning, and common, Green Honeycreeper.

I captured the images below during my July, 2005 visit to the Canopy Tower. At top, a rather dingy, molting male Green Honeycreeper enjoys a quiet moment alongside a male Blue Cotinga. At bottom is a mediocre shot of a female Green Honeycreeper, included here only to illustrate the plumages of this sexually dimorphic species.  


A male Green Honeycreeper hanging around with a friend, a Blue Cotinga.

A decent look at a female Green Honeycreeper.

I did a lot better on my May 2006 trip, which included a stay at the brand-new Canopy Lodge in El Valle. A female Green Honeycreeper frequented the flowering bushes in front of the guest lodgings. One day is was lurking next to the bushes in an effort to collect hummingbird footage when I found the honeycreeper pictured at the top of this page and at below, at absurdly close range. It turned out to be some of the most beautiful footage I have ever captured.  


A vocalizing female Green Honeycreeper at the Canopy Lodge.

Elsewhere on this site:
Birds of Panama, 2003.

Birds of Panama, 2005.

Birds of Panama, 2006.

Return to Bird Species Index

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