From some of the limited-range Choco-endemic species we saw I shift to a very common bird with a wide range that I'd never heard of and only saw one of. The bananaquit is found in the upper two-thirds of South America, more heavily represented in the east, up through Central America into southern Mexico, and into the Caribbean. eBird has 451,968 observations and 10,407 with photos. It has 41 subspecies and there is quite a bit of variation between some of the subspecies.
We saw only one at the Milpe Bird Sanctuary outside Mindo, Ecuador, but it was very unusual in that it was constantly at a hummingbird feeder and competing with and surrounded by many hummingbirds. The one I saw had a white eyebrow, yellow underparts, a gray back, a whitish throat, a slightly decurved bill, and some white on its wing. It was quite small and cute and I'm surprised it is part of the tanager family.
Such a great name. Does it like bananas, or is it the color that gave it its name?
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