From Opus

Photo by Kent
U.S. Virgin Islands, August 2004

Tiaris bicolor

[edit] Identification

11.5 cm
The male has a black head and breast, gray flanks and undertail coverts, and olive green upperparts; bill is black while the legs are reddish.

Female
Photo by AlanR
Aruba, April 2007

The female has upperparts that are similar to the male, and is slightly lighter on the underside than the upperside.

Judging from photos, the bill color is variable among subspecies.

[edit] Distribution

Breeds from Bahamas throughout the Caribbean to northern Venezuela and large parts of Colombia.

Accidental vagrant to southern Florida.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

This is a polytypic species: eight subspecies are recognized:

• T. b. bicolor: Bahamas and cays off Las Villas Province (Cuba)
• T. b. marchii: Jamaica, Hispaniola and adjacent islands

1st Year Male
Photo by Stanley Jones
Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, Jamaica, November 2010

• T. b. omissus: Puerto Rico, Tobago, Isla Margarita, northern Colombia and northern Venezuela
• T. b. huilae: South-central Colombia (upper Magdalena Valley)
• T. b. grandior: Islas Providéncia, Santa Catalina and San Andrés (western Caribbean Sea)
• T. b. johnstonei: Isla La Blanquilla and Islas Los Hermanos (off Venezuela)
• T. b. sharpei: Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire)
• T. b. tortugensis: Isla La Tortuga (off Venezuela)

[edit] Habitat

Black-faced Grassquit is found in areas with grass, and makes its nest in such an area. It will also live in gardens and forest edges, as long as seed-bearing grass is found nearby.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

Both adults build a domed grass nest, lined with fine grasses, placed low in a bush or on a bank. The clutch consists of 2-3 whitish eggs blotched with reddish brown. The young are fed by both adults.

[edit] Diet

The diet consits mainly of grass and weed seeds.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links