SPARROWS AND FINCHES   -   EMBERIZIDAE   -   PART II

Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch Emberizoides herbicola herbicola Serra de Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. (D3)

Pale-throated Pampa-Finch Embernagra longicauda Serra de Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Another Brazilian endemic, found in interior mountain ranges from Bahia to Minas Gerais. (S5)

Pale-throated Pampa-Finch Embernagra longicauda Chapada Diamantina, Bahia state, Brazil. (D3)		Pale-throated Pampa-Finch Embernagra longicauda Serra de Cipó, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. (S5)

Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina splendens Mitú, Vaupés department, Colombia. Male. One of the most common and widespread birds of open areas in the Neotropics. (S6)

Plumbeous Seedeater Sporophila plumbea plumbea Near Três Marias, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. This seedeater is found disjunctly in open habitats north and south of the Amazon basin. (S5)

Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina ophthalmica Finca Exito I, c. 20 km N of Puerto Quito, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. (S5)		Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina ophthalmica Finca Exito I, c. 20 km N of Puerto Quito, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female. The warm buffy tone to the upperparts separates this from other similar female congeners tha occur in this area. (S5)

Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina ophthalmica Mirador Rio Blanco, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male bringing food to nestlings, 4 June 2009.  (S5f)

Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina ophthalmica Mirador Rio Blanco, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female bringing food to nestlings, 4 June 2009. You can see the small white seeds that are being regurgitated. (S5f)

Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis vivida Tandayapa Valley, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Female or juv. male. ID not 100% certain, as Black-and-white Seedeater (S. luctuosa) does occasionally turn up in the Tandayapa Valley, and females are essentially identical. It's a gruesome shot, but certainly demonstrates how ticks are a lot more than just a minor nuisance to a bird weighing only 10 g. (D2)

Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis nigricollis Serra da Canastra NP, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. This bird was perched in the same bush as the one in the next photo. See the discussion there. (D3)		Dubois's Seedeater Sporophila ardesiaca Serra da Canastra NP, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. Rasmus Boegh told me that this bird is a Dubois's Seedeater due to the lack yellow on the belly, the gray back, and the black hood extending onto the nape. However he also said that ardesiaca may not even be a valid taxon, since its voice is identical to nigricollis. (D3)

Dubois's Seedeater Sporophila ardesiaca Santuario de Caraça, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. I'm fairly certain of this one due to the lack of yellow on the belly and gray mantle, however the gray hindcrown is more consistent with Yellow-bellied Seedeater S. nigricollis. I welcome any comments on it. (S5)

Double-collared Seedeater Sporophila caerulescens caerulescens Hotel do Ypê, Itatiaia NP, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Male. A common and widespread seedeater south of the Amazon. (S6)

White-throated Seedeater Sporophila albogularis Jeremoaba-Canudos road, Bahia state, Brazil. Male. This attractive seedeater is endemic to NE Brazil. (D3)		White-bellied Seadeater Sporophila leucoptera cinereola(?) Serra da Canastra NP, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male, with a Yellow-bellied Seedeater (S. nigricollis) in the background. (D3)

Parrot-billed Seedeater Sporophila peruviana (ssp?) Chaparri Reserve, Lambayeque department, Peru Female. This species is restricted to arid scrub and desert west of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru. Lambayeque is between the ranges listed for the two subspecies in HBW and Clements, so it is not clear which one this is. (S6)

Chestnut-bellied Seedeater Sporophila castaneiventris Yasuní Research Station, Orellana province, Ecuador. Male. It occurs in much of the Amazon and the Guianas. (S6)		Chestnut-bellied Seedeater Sporophila castaneiventris Yasuní Research Station, Orellana province, Ecuador. Female. I have to admit that I am making an assumption here. This bird was collecting nesting material near the research station, and the only male Sporophila that I saw during the entire week I was there was the male Chestnut-bellied pictured to the left. To me, most female Sporophilas look the same. (S6)

Nicaraguan Seed-Finch Oryzoborus nuttingi Tigre, Heredia province, Costa Rica. Male. This species, with it's distintive beak, is very local in wet, grassy areas in lowlands from Nicaragua to western Panama. It is sometimes Pink-billed Seed-Finch, which seems like a better name to me. (S6)

Thick-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus funereus Valle Nacional, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Male. This species and the next are often lumped as Lesser Seed-Finch S.angolensis due to close similarities in morphology, behavior, and vocalizations. The Andes are the barrier for the species, with this one only occurring west of the Andes. (S5f)	Chestnut-bellied Seed-Finch Oryzoborus angolensis angolensis Serra da Canastra NP, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. (S5)

Large-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus crassirostris (ssp?) Tobia, Cundinamarca department, Colombia. Male. A rather localized species, rare in most of it's range. This bird was in dry woodland in an inter-Andean valley in central Colombia, a very different habitat from the other ones I've seen, which have been in wet fields or on river islands. (D3)		Black-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus atrirostris (ssp?) Cocha Camungo, Madre de Dios department, Peru. Male. A rare bird, and this is the only one I have seen. While it was perched up in a tree next to a lake, we actually scoped it from the top of a canopy platform. (D2)

White-naped Seedeater Dolospingus fringilloides Mitú, Vaupés department, Colombia. Male. An odd "finch" found very locally in white-sand regions of the northwestern Amazon. It is very similar to the tanager genus Conothraupis and could eventually be merged with it. (S6)

Band-tailed Seedeater Catamenia analis analis Putre, Region I, Chile. Male. (S5)

Paramo Seedeater Catamenia homochroa oreophila San Lorenzo ridge, Santa Marta mountains, Magdalena department, Colombia. Male. This subspecies is endemic to the Santa Martas, though it does not seen noticeable different from the nominate race of the Andes. Despite its name, it is not really a páramo species. In my experieince, it seems to prefer stunted forest near treeline, often on the edge of the páramo. (S6)

Tocuyo Sparrow Arremonops tocuyensis Los Flamencos reserve, La Guajira department, Colombia. A scarce and skulking species found only in arid areas of northwestern Venezuela and far northern Colombia. (S6)

Green-backed Sparrow Arremonops chloronotus chloronotus Las Guacamayas, Chiapas state, Mexico. (S5)

Half-collared Sparrow Arremon semitorquatus Vale das Taquaras, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. This sparrow is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. (S5f)

São Francisco Sparrow Arremon franciscanus Palmeiras, Bahia state, Brazil. This species was only described in 1997, and is known only from a few caatinga areas of Minas Gerais and Bahia in Brazil. Compare it with the next species, which comes close in range. (S6)

Saffron-billed Sparrow Arremon flavirostris polionotus Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. (D2)

Golden-winged Sparrow Arremon schlegeli schlegeli Minca, Magdalena department, Colombia. This beautiful bird is found only from northern Colombia to northern Venezuela. (S5)

Orange-billed Sparrow Arremon aurantiirostris occidentalis Mirador Rio Blanco, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Juvenile, still lacking the orange bill. (S5)

Orange-billed Sparrow Arremon aurantiirostris aurantiirostris Soberania NP, Panama province, Panama. Male. (S2f)		Olive Finch Arremon castaneiceps Milpe Bird Sanctuary, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Usually placed in the genus Lysurus, but SACC merged that genus with Arremon despite its very different appearance. (D3)

Sooty-faced Finch Arremon crassirostris Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica. A close relative of the Olive Finch (above), and very similar apart from the white malar. This species (found only in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama) stays in the dark undergrowth and is usually hard to see. Even when it does show itself, getting a sharp shot is a challenge due to the low light. I didn't use flash, and this shot was taken at 3200 ISO handheld. Surprisingly, noise levels were only moderate, and the noise was easily reduced further in processing. Photographed with a Canon 7D camera and a Canon 100-400mm f4.5-f5.6 IS lens on 29 January 2011.

Stripe-headed Brush-Finch Arremon torquatus assimilis Reserva Geobotánica Pululahua, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Quite a widespread species in Central and South American mountains. Some races, such as the one in the Santa Marta mountains of Colombia, are likely to split. (S6)

Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch Arremon brunneinucha elsae Bosque de Paz, Alajuela province, Costa Rica. (S5)

Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch Arremon brunneinucha apertus Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz state, Mexico. This isolated subspecies is sometimes given full species status as "Plain-breasted" Brush-Finch, since it lacks the black breast band of the other races. Vocally it is very similar, however. (S5f)

Tanager Finch Oreothraupis arremonops Yellow-eared Parrot reserve, above Jardín, Antioquia dept., Colombia. A very localized Chocó endemic, found in montane forest from western Colombia to northwestern Ecuador. It is best known from the Tandayapa ridge in Ecuador, as no other site is as easily accessible. (D3)

White-throated Towhee Pipilo albicollis albicollis Monte Alban, Oaxaca state, Mexico. (S5)

White-throated Towhee Pipilo albicollis albicollis Monte Alban, Oaxaca state, Mexico. (S5)

Prevost's Ground-Sparrow Melozone biarcuata hartwegi North of Mapastepec, Chiapas state, Mexico. This is a totally different bird from the one that occurs in the highlands of Costa Rica, but somehow they have ended up being considered the same species. Here's a link to a photo of the Costa Rica race cabanisi.(S5)