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[[underline]] Cyanerpes, [[/underline]] I (63)
March 12, 1958
Barro Colorado

     I have been catching Shining Honeycreeper after Shining Honeycreeper in the nets. As soon as I catch one pair, another shows up. It is now quite obvious, therefore, that these birds are very common around here (although probably somewhat less so than the Blues or Greens); and that they merely seem rare because they are relatively inconspicuous. And this latter in turn, must be the result of their extreme gregariousness. I presume that whenever one comes into contact with another, in the wild, one attacks immediately and the other retreats without more than a brief argument.

     I am keeping several of the birds I have caught, at least temporarily. The second pair is now banded ♂ light blue right, ♀ light green left. The third pair is banded ♂ dark green right, ♀ black right.

     A lot of these birds (both ♂'s and ♀'s) seem to be just completing a molt. Either young birds just assuming adult plumage, or this species (including the ♀'s?) has an eclipse plumage like the Blues.

     When I first put the dark green ♂ in with the second pair, in the small travelling cage, they chased him quite a bit, but the whole dispute was relatively mild compared with the fight a few days ago in the aviary, (no actual pecking and occasional paures). It is probably significant, therefore, that the commonest patterns of both the ♀ and ♂ of the second pair were all sorts of of more or less E St's, with or without BL & BF, but almost all quite silent. This would seem to confirm the hypothesis that silent St's are lower intensity than St's with calls.