A neglected nectivore from the New World
THE bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) is a familiar species, and one of the most studied small birds, of the Caribbean islands, Central America and northern South America. It is found in various countries from southern Mexico to Uruguay. On some Caribbean islands it’s the commonest bird and in Puerto Rico it is the national bird.
Its distribution across practically all the Caribbean islands, apart from Cuba and a few other small isles, was puzzling, until a study revealed that the colonisation had happened in reverse. Bananaquits evolved on the islands, then colonised the mainland.
The subspecies is a vagrant to Florida from the Bahamas. Each Caribbean island, virtually, has its own subspecies, which differ in the size of the bill, the colour of the throat patch and the presence or absence of the white speculum. On St
