From Opus

Male
Photo by Robert_Scanlon
Cañeta, Peru, January 2005

Sporophila telasco

Includes Tumaco Seedeater

[edit] Identification

• Male - grey upperparts with darker streaks, white speculum and hint of wing bars, whitish underparts, small dark chestnut throat patch, short curved bill. White spot on uppertail coverts and white at base of tail produces white doublet when seen from behind. Upperside color varies: brownish buff in fresh plumage becoming grey with wear.
  

In southern Colombia, a variant with more chestnut on underside is either a color morph or a subspecies.

• Female - brown, dark streaked upperparts with white speculum, buffy white underparts with light streaking on flanks of upper breast.

Male showing the white doublet on the lower back/tail
Photo by njlarsen
Arica, Chile, November 2009

[edit] Distribution

South America: found in the coastal lowlands of Southern-most Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and northern-most Chile, mostly west of Andes.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

The more chestnut form from Colombia has in the past been considered a separate species (Tumaco Seedeater, S. insulata).

[edit] Habitat

Mostly humid areas, in drier areas connected with irrigation, including village gardens

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

Female
Photo by njlarsen
Azapa Valley, Chile, November 2009

The diet includes 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. Alvaro Jaramillo. 2003. Birds of Chile. Princeton Field Guides. ISBN 0-691-11740-3
3. Ridgely and Tudor 2009. Field guide to the songbirds of South America - The Passerines. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71979-8
4. Arthur Grosset

• List of references

[edit] External Links