Blue Dacnis

The blue dacnis is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 10 to 15.5 g (0.35 to 0.55 oz). It has a thin pointed bill. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies D. c. cayana have a mostly turquoise-blue head and nape with a thin black mask from the lores to just past the eye. Their mantle and back are black; the color narrows to a point just above the rump. Their scapulars, the sides of their back, and their rump and uppertail coverts are turquoise-blue. Their tail is black with very thin blue edges on the outer two or three pairs of feathers. Their upperwing coverts are mostly black with blue edges. Their flight feathers are black with wide blue edges. The center of their throat is black and the rest of their underparts are turquoise. Adult females are mostly green with paler underparts than upperparts. Their head is mostly bluish and their throat gray. Both sexes of all subspecies have a dark red to reddish brown iris, a dusky bill with a pale gray inner half of the mandible, and pinkish legs and feet. The other subspecies of the blue dacnis differ from the nominate and each other thus:

D. c. callaina: male is a brighter cerulean blue D. c. ultramarina: male is medium blue, not turquoise D. c. napaea: male is rich cobalt blue; female has bluish violet head D. c. …

The subspecies of the blue dacnis are found thus:

D. c. callaina: from central Puntarenas Province in Costa Rica south on the Pacific slope to Chiriquí Province in southwestern Panama D. c. ultramarina: from extreme eastern Honduras south on the Caribbean slope through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama into northwestern Colombia on the west side of the Gulf of Urabá D. c. napaea: Colombia from the Santa Marta region west to the Gulf of Urabá and the lower Magdalena River valley D. c. baudoana: from the Serranía del Baudó in northwestern Colombia south into northwestern Ecuador to northern Guayas and west-central Los Ríos provinces D. c. caerebicolor: Colombia's lower Cauca River and upper Magdalena valleys D. c. cayana: Trinidad; from Meta and Arauca departments in eastern Colombia east into Venezuela, there on east side of the Serranía del Perijá, both slopes of the Andes, and the eastern half of the country including the Coastal Ranges, continuing across the Guianas and northern Brazil D. c. glaucogularis: from Caquetá and Putumayo departments in southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru into northern and eastern Bolivia D. c. …

The blue dacnis feeds on arthropods, fruit, seeds, and possibly nectar. In a study in Panama, out of 26 species of plants the species fed on, more than a third of its take was Miconia berries and a quarter was from the family Euphorbiaceae. Other fruits are from Cecropia and Clusia, and it will feed on bananas at bird feeders. It primarily forages singly or in pairs, but groups of about 12 have been noted. It almost always is seen as a member of a mixed-species feeding flock. It feeds acrobatically, leaning, reaching, and hanging upside down to reach fruit and insects. It also takes insects in mid-air with a sally from a perch.