In the Air: Birds

Bananaquit

Coereba flaveola

Jumplinks:

About

Bananaquits are native to the Caribbean, and are often called “sugar birds” due to their affinity for sugar. While they do eat small insects and spiders, they have a particular fondness for flower nectar, ripe bananas, and even for stealing sugar right off of people’s tables. They’re fantastic at flitting around trees in search of flowers, and their curved bill and long tongue are well-adapted for accessing nectar. As a result, these colorful birds are important pollinators across island plants. Their songs are usually high-pitched and a little scratchy, and on Saba, you’ll often see them swarming sugary bird feeders.

Bananaquits are skilled nest-builders, meticulously constructing globular nests from grasses, leaves, and plant fibers. They’ve even been observed building their nests near wasp nests, possibly for an added layer of protection against potential predators. These resourceful birds, like many other tropical species, often breed according to rainy seasons, with breeding peaking between March and June. Their eggs take a little under two weeks to hatch, and young bananaquits take flight from their nests after 15 to 18 days.

On Saba, bananaquits are well-adapted to living alongside humans. They often visit gardens and stop by flowering plants all around, making them quite possibly the easiest bird to spot on the island. Just be sure to keep an eye on your sugar cubes.

Header image by Darien Fiorino.

This species is:
Native

Why that matters:
Native species are those that evolved in the region naturally, without human influence. That means they’re specifically adapted to Saba’s habitat, and play a key role in island biodiversity. When we lose native species, gaps appear in the ecosystem. That leads to cascades of additional extinctions, and to the loss of the ecosystem services (food, clean air and water, flood and coastal protections, and more) that we humans rely on.

Credit: Kai Wulf.

iNaturalist Observations

Bananaquit

iNaturalist user @seastarya (CC-BY-NC)

iNaturalist user @loaldo (CC-BY-NC)

iNaturalist user @neild (CC-BY-NC)

Where locals, researchers, and visitors have seen this species.

Saba Island Map and Pins: iNat Taxonomy ID 10199

This map shows geotagged observations of this species made on iNaturalist, the world’s largest community-science platform.

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Observations of land species in water:
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Missing observations:
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Ask a Scientist

Question: How do you get close enough to birds to study them?

Answer: To survey birds we use mist nets. They’re kind of like fishing nets, but they have very fine, dark string that’s almost impossible to see in the forest. The birds, as they’re flying through the forest, they go into these nets and then we can carefully handle them. We can take them out, get blood samples and take measurements to do the work we need to do, and then release them.

Dr. Jack Dumbacher
Curator of Ornithology & Mammalogy, California Academy of Sciences