Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) Dutch text English text Vogels in Suriname/Birds in Suriname




Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Foek Chin Joe
© Foek Chin Joe

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by N. Takano
© N. Takano

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by N. Takano
© N. Takano

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Ricardo van Dijk
© Ricardo van Dijk

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Ricardo van Dijk
© Ricardo van Dijk

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Paul van Giersbergen
© Paul van Giersbergen

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Francita Rijhiner
© Francita Rijhiner

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Michel Giraud-Audine
French Guiana © Michel Giraud-Audine

Dacnis cayana, Blue Dacnis, Mielero turquesa, Saí-azul, Saíra by Michel Giraud-Audine
French Guiana © Michel Giraud-Audine




Blue dacnis: The males are mainly blue, the females (and young males) green with a blue head. The birds are often seen in the savanna forest and in the rainforest, especially in flowering trees and bushes, but also in trees with small berries, as can be seen in the pictures. The Blue dacnis goes around in small groups often in the company of honeycreepers.
First a photo of a male Blue Dacnis, made by Foek Chin Joe in Suriname, then two photos of (a pair of) the Blue dacnis, made by N. Takano on the Brownsberg in August 2004 and two by Ricardo van Dijk from the Voltzberg in February 2009 and a female by Michel Giraud-Audine near Wayabo in French Guiana in March 2013 and in the same tree in July 2014.



Distribution




Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :

A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone.
Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.



Names
Scientific name: Dacnis cayana
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae, 56 in Suriname
Dutch: Blauwe pitpit
English: Blue Dacnis
Sranan ('Surinamese'): Blauwe pitpit (male), Groene pitpit (female)
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela): Mielero turquesa
Portugese (Brazil): Saí-azul, Saíra
Arowak:
Carib:
French: Dacnis blue


Observations through the year Observations of breeding through the year
The 428 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced. The 2 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.


Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).