Bananaquits are notorious sugar-lovers. They probe into and pierce flowers. They steal sugar packets from restaurant tables. I didn’t witness that, but the Dutch call them suikerdiefje, aka sugar thief, so that’s proof enough. And they commonly drink from hummingbird feeders, attracted by the nectar, their food of choice.

I spotted this one just as he set off for the feeder pictured below, at a butterfly and hummingbird farm in Mindo, Ecuador, where I enjoyed the company of countless butterflies and at least a few dozen different birds, mostly hummers, on a pleasantly meandering stroll.

Its name?

Wikipedia says it’s derived from the bird’s yellow color and the English word ‘quit’, which refers to small passerines of the American tropics.

More:

• Bananaquit at Birds of the World
• Bananaquit at BirdLife DataZone
• Bananaquit at eBird
• Bananaquit at Avibase
• Bananaquit at Wikipedia
• Bananaquit at iNaturalist

Image from 28 May 2013.