SALTATORS & GROSBEAKS   -   CARDINALIDAE

Hepatic Tanager Piranga flava testacea Arenal Observatory, Alajuela province, Costa Rica. Male. Part of the "Highland Hepatic-Tanager" group which has been suggested should be split. I'm not familiar with the justification - just have to wait until I get my final volume of HBW. The SACC has accepted a proposal to transfer several genera to from the Thraupidae to the Cardinalidae, including Piranga, Habia, and Chlorothaupis. (S6)

Hepatic Tanager Piranga flava testacea Arenal Observatory, Alajuela province, Costa Rica. Female. (S6)

Red-hooded Tanager Piranga rubriceps La Bonita road, Sucumbíos province, Ecuador. A rare tanager of highland cloudforest in the northern Andes. (D3)

Red-headed Tanager Piranga erythrocephala erythrocephala La Soledad, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Male. (S5)

White-winged Tanager Piranga leucoptera venezuelae Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. (S5)

Red-throated Ant-Tanager Habia fuscicauda salvini North of Mapastepec, Chiapas state, Mexico. (S5)

Red-throated Ant-Tanager Habia fuscicauda willisi Soberania NP, Panama province, Panama. Male. (S2f)		Ochre-breasted Tanager Chlorothraupis stolzmanni stolzmanni Milpe Bird Sanctuary, Pichincha province, Ecuador. This dull tanager has a huge mouth and sings loudly and monotonously for the first few hours of the morning. This particular bird's song can be heard here.  (S5)

Golden-bellied Grosbeak Pheucticus chrysogaster chrysogaster Nono, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Male. A gorgeous bird, locally common at fairly high elevations in the Andes, south to Peru. (S5)

Golden-bellied Grosbeak Pheucticus chrysogaster chrysogaster Chaparri Reserve, Lambayeque department, Peru. Female. (S6)

Black-backed Grosbeak Pheucticus aureoventris aureoventris Palomitas, Salta province, Argentina. Male. (D3)		Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus North of Mapastepec, Chiapas state, Mexico. Female. On its wintering grounds. (S5)

Red-breasted Chat Granatellus venustus venustus Zipolite, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Male. Endemic to Mexico. Granatellus was also transferred to the Cardinalidae after the SACC accepted this proposal in 2008. (S5)		Red-breasted Chat Granatellus venustus venustus Zipolite, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Female. (S5)

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis carneus Zipolite, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Male. With it's elongated crest, this subspecies, endemic to southern Mexico, is sometimes considered a separate species, Long-crested Cardinal. (S5)

Vermilion Cardinal Cardinalis phoeniceus Perico, La Guajira department, Colombia. Male. A very similar species to Northern Cardinal C. cardinalis, differing mainly in bill color. It is resticted to deserts in northern Colombia and northern Venezuela. (S6)

Buff-throated Saltator Saltator maximus maximus Buenaventura reserve, El Oro province, Ecuador. The SACC now puts Saltator in the Tanagers (Thraupidae), but I maintain them here for the time being. (S5)

Buff-throated Saltator Saltator maximus magnoides Arenal Observatory, Alajuela province, Costa Rica. Northern subspecies such as this one show much more black on the breast. (S6)

Black-headed Saltator Saltator atriceps lacertosus Arenal Observatory, Alajuela province, Costa Rica. A close relative of the previous species, but restricted to Middle America. (S6)

Grayish Saltator Saltator coerulescens azarae Copalinga Lodge, Zamora-Chinchipe province, Ecuador. Enjoying some Cecropia fruit. (S5)

Green-winged Saltator Saltator similis similis Iguazú National Park, Misiones province, Argentina. It is locally a common Atlantic Rainforest species, but in much of its Brazilian range it is quite scarce since it is a highly sought-after cage bird. Called Trinca-ferro in Portuguese, they can be worth over US$3000 on the black market. (S6)

Black-throated Saltator Saltator atricollis Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. (D3)

Rufous-bellied Saltator "Saltator" rufiventris La Cuesta del Obispo, Salta province, Argentina. An uncommon and very local species of the high Andes from Bolivia to northern Argentina. It is not very saltator-like, and the SACC has agreed that it is not really that genus, but have not yet decided where to put it. (S5)

Glaucous-blue Grosbeak Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea Iguaçu National Park, Parana state, Brazil. Juvenile male, in the process of molting into adult plumage. It has a smaller beak than other similar "blue" grosbeaks, and even placed in a monotypic genus. It's found in southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and Uruguay. (S6)

Blue-black Grosbeak Cyanocompsa cyanoides concreta Las Guacamayas, Chiapas state, Mexico. Male. (S5)

Ultramarine Grosbeak Cyanocompsa brissonii brissonii Chapada de Diamantina, Bahia state, Brazil. Male. (D3)

Ultramarine Grosbeak Cyanocompsa brissonii argentina Palomitas, Salta province, Argentina. Male. (D3)

Ultramarine Grosbeak Cyanocompsa brissonii brissonii Canudos, Bahia state, Brazil. Female. (S6)

Rose-bellied Bunting Passerina rositae Foothills north of Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico. Male. This beautiful and uniquely-colored bird is endemic to a small area of southern Mexico in Oaxaca and Chiapas. Howell & Webb (1994) called it Rosita's Bunting. (S5)		Rose-bellied Bunting Passerina rositae Foothills north of Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico. (D5)

Orange-breasted Bunting Passerina leclancherii grandior Zipolite, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Male. An amazingly colored bird that is so bright that it almost seems to glow. It is also endemic to Mexico - makes you want to go, doesn't it? (S5)

Dickcissel Spiza americana 20km south of Calabozo, Guárico state, Venezuela. Male. One on its wintering grounds in the Llanos of Venezuela, where they congregate in immense flocks. (D3)