Bananaquit on a flowering branch perched, Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

The bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) is a species of passerine bird of uncertain relation. It is tentatively placed in the tanager family. Its classification is debated, and it is often placed in its own family: Coerebidae. It has recently been suggested the bananaquit should be split into three species, but this has yet to receive widespread recognition. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas, and is generally common. The Coerebidae used to contain other nectar-eating birds from the tropical Americas, but these have since been moved. The bananaquit is part of a group that includes Darwin’s finches, Tiaris (grassquits), Loxigilla, etc.—most of which were previously placed in Emberizidae, but are now known to actually be part of the Thraupidae. As such this species is tentatively placed in the family Thraupidae unless a study suggests more accurate placement. Nevertheless, its precise relations remain unresolved, so the American Ornithologists’ Union classes it as a species incertae sedis.

The Bananaquit inhabits a variety of habitats from scrubland to tropical lowland forest edge, from the Antilles and Mexico south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Bananaquits are distinctive birds with down-curved bills, black upperparts, bright yellow underparts, and a conspicuous white eyebrow. Across its broad distribution, however, Bananaquits exhibit considerable geographic variation, with no fewer than 41 recognized subspecies; these differ in features such as the color of the throat (white, gray or black), the presence of absence of a white spot on the wing, the length of the bill, and the extent of yellow on the underparts. In addition, on some islands in the West Indies an entirely sooty color morph is frequent. Bananaquits are bold and active feeders, and most often are encountered in pairs or in small family groups. With a diet of nectar and fruit, Bananaquits frequent flowering trees and shrubs where they often cling to flowers. Not globally threatened and is classified as Least Concern by IUCN. Varies from being uncommon, as in heavily forested areas, to being abundant, as on many Caribbean islands.