From Opus

Photo by richard bledsoe
Sebastian, Florida, USA

Passerina ciris

[edit] Identification

5 1/2" (14 cm)
Male

• Bright red underparts and rump
• Green back
• Blue head
• Red eye ring
  

Female

• Bright green all over
• Paler below
• Pale eye ring

[edit] Distribution

Two ranges:
Western range includes eastern New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, southern Kansas, southern Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, western Mississippi, and northern Mexico.

Eastern range includes South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Winters south to Panama and the Greater Antilles.

Accidental vagrant north and west of range.

Female photographed by marhowie
Kempner, Hill Country, Texas, May 2009

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

This is a polytypic species, consisting of two subspecies^[1]:

• P. c. pallidior:

• South-western US and northern Mexico; winters to western Panama

• P. c. ciris:

• Coastal south-eastern US; winters to Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and Yucatan

[edit] Habitat

Open areas with dense brush at all seasons.

[edit] Behaviour

Males will fight to hold territories; these fights are sometimes bloody and even fatal.

[edit] Diet

Diet includes seeds and insects, which they generally find on the ground or in a low brush.

[edit] Breeding

They are territorial with males defending the territory by singing from a high perch, often hidden in the gallery.

[edit] References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Audubon

• List of references

[edit] External Links