From Opus

Northern form. Photo by ana maria
Cafe del Volcan, San Salvador Volcano, El Salvador, April 2010

Alternative name: White-faced Ground-Sparrow

Melozone biarcuata

Includes Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow

[edit] Identification

15 cm long and weighs 28 g. The bill is dark-grey, the upperparts are olive-brown, the crown is rufous and the underparts are mainly white. The northern form has a very open white-faced appearance, which in the Costa Rican form is changed into white mainly found in front of the eye while black and chestnut colors dominate behind and below the eye.

Juveniles are browner above, have yellower underparts, and a duller indistinct head pattern.

[edit] Distribution

Southern Mexico to western Honduras and Costa Rica.

[edit] Taxonomy

Three subspecies are recognized:

• M.b. hartwegi is found in southern Mexico
• M.b. biarcuata is found in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras
• M.b. cabanisi is found in Costa Rica

The scientific name has in the past been written Melozone biarcuatum

The Costa Rican form may be a separate species, M. cabanisi (Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow)

[edit] Habitat

Altitudes between 600 and 1600m in the undergrowth and thickets of semi-open woodland, coffee plantations, hedgerows and large gardens.

[edit] Behaviour

The female builds a lined, cup shaped nest, in a bush. She lays 2-3 eggs which are white, blotched with ruddy colour, and she incubates these for 12-14 days. The male helps feed the chicks. The nest is sometimes parasitised by the Bronzed Cowbird.

It is a ground feeder and its diet includes seeds, fallen berries, insects and spiders. It is usually in pairs, but is a shy species best seen at near or dusk.

The male’s song is a whistled pst’t’t’t peer peer peer whee whee whee.

[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.

[edit] External Links