The male Green Honeycreeper, a very common sight at Asa Wright, is shown here in all his blue-green finery, with a black face and cap. His iris is red, and the lower mandible is yellow. The female and the immature birds are quite green, and I presume the mottled bird in the 3rd photo is a young male molting from green into his adult male plumage. Sorry, but I totally forgot to get a shot of the green female!
The Honeycreepers used to have their own family (Coerbidae), but they've been moved in with the Tanagers, and are now are in the larger family of Emberiziae. This is not exactly "need to know" stuff, for sure. What is of interest is that the Honeycreepers are specialized nectar feeders, just like the hummingbirds, with bills adapted to reach deep into the nectary of a flower. There are only 5 Honeycreepers - 4 of them in the genus Cyanepes, and this one, alone in the genus Chlorophanes. Chlorophanes spiza does, however, feature 7 subspecies, and this one is probably the nominate race, C. s. spiza. As a group they range from Mexico down to Brazil.
Here's the molting young male, to show the marked difference between the green shade of the younsters and females and the blue-green of the adult male.
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