From Opus

Current revision

A bird from the eastern group
Photo by Rogerio Araújo Dias
Serra da Mesa, Goias, Brazil

Geranospiza caerulescens

[edit] Identification

• Grey underparts with fine white bars
• Grey above
• Grey head
• Black and white barred, white tipped tail
• Long orange legs and feet

Nominate
Photo by lior kislev
Chino,Otawaio river, Loreto, Peru, February 2010

• Black talons
• Grey hooked bill
• Eyes red or pale depending on location
• In flight shows one white band across base of primaries (or two in immatures)
• Immatures of all forms have paler underside with barring and pale streaking in head and neck; many have pale eyes

[edit] Variation

Adults from eastern South America have the barred underside, buffy to orange or rufous in the pale part of the tail, and pale eyes. Birds from Amazonian Brazil to Peru and Colombia have solid blue-grey underparts and red eyes with white tail bands. Birds from Central America to western Colombia are much darker with unbarred underside and red eyes; many have darker red legs than seen further east and south but in Mexico legs can be yellow (might indicate younger birds); in some areas they have orange-buffy bands on the dark tail, in the rest white.

[edit] Distribution

A bird from the northern group
Photo by hawkwatch
Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, Mexico, March 2008

Central and South America: found from northern Mexico to northern Argentina and Brazil.

Accidental to the United States with one record at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Texas.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 6 subspecies^[1]:

• G. c. livens:

• North-western Mexico

• G. c. nigra:

• Northern Mexico to central Panama

• G. c. balzarensis:

• Eastern Panama to western Colombia, Ecuador and extreme north-western Peru

• G. c. caerulescens:

• Guianas and Amazonian Brazil to eastern Colombia and Peru

• G. c. gracilis:

• North-eastern Brazil (Maranhão, Ceará and Piauí to Bahia)

• G. c. flexipes:

• Southern Brazil to chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia and northern Argentina

The subspecies are sometimes divided into three groups: the first three in a northern group, no 4 in Amazonian South America, and the remaining two in the eastern group. These three forms have historically been viewed as different species; some sources say they intergrade, others say that further studies may show them to be good species.

[edit] Habitat

Showing the distinctive white crescent on the underwing
Photo by Jacamar
Sisters, East Bank Berbice, Guyana, September 2006

Wetlands, rainforest, Woodland and even savannah if there are nearby trees. It is restricted to lowlands and is often near water.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects, frogs, spiders, lizards, and snakes.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Wikipedia
3. Arthur Grosset
4. SACC baseline read April 2011
5. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
6. Ber van Perlo. 2009. A field guide to the Birds of Brazil. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-530155-7
7. Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
8. Erize et al. 2006 Birds of South America, non-passerines. Princeton Illustrated Checklists, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-691-12688-7
9. Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124

• List of references

[edit] External Links