From Opus

Photo by Rogerio Araújo Dias
Serra da Mesa, Goias, Brazil

Geranospiza caerulescens

Identification

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

Distribution

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.

Taxonomy

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

Habitat

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

Behaviour

Diet

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

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

• List of references

External Links