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| − | ;Tiaris olivacea | + | ;[[:Category:Tiaris|Tiaris]] olivacea |
[[Image:Yellow-faced_Grassquit.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by luis jelenszky<br />Photo taken: El Valle, Panama]] | [[Image:Yellow-faced_Grassquit.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by luis jelenszky<br />Photo taken: El Valle, Panama]] | ||
==Identification== | ==Identification== | ||
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
{{GSearch|Tiaris+olivacea}} | {{GSearch|Tiaris+olivacea}} | ||
| − | [[Category:Birds]] | + | [[Category:Birds]][[Category:Tiaris]] |
Revision as of 11:58, 28 July 2008
- Tiaris olivacea
Identification
Length: 10.0-10.7 cm; weight: 9.5-10.0 g
The Yellow-faced Grassquit is a small bird with a conical bill, sharper than that of the related seedeaters. The adult male has an olive-green back, and its face and breast are black apart from a bright yellow throat, supercilia, and lower eyelid spot. The rest of the underparts are greyish olive.
The adult female is dull olive-green above and paler grey below, and may have some dark breast smudges. The face pattern is much weaker and duller, and may be almost invisible. Young birds are like the adult female but duller and greyer. Young males begin to acquire full adult plumage in their first year.
Distribution
The Yellow-faced Grassquit, Tiaris olivacea, is a passerine bird which breeds from central Mexico to Colombia and northwestern Venezuela, and also on the Greater Antilles. It is a casual vagrant to the United States in southern Florida and southern Texas and has been introduced to Hawaii.
Taxonomy
It was formerly placed in the Emberizidae.
Habitat
It is a common to abundant resident in lowlands and foothills up to 2300 m altitude in semi-open areas such as roadsides, pasture, weedy fields, low scrub and gardens. It sometimes forms loose flocks with other emberizid finches.
Behaviour
The globular nest, built by the female, is made of grass and weed stems and lined with finer material. It has a side entrance and is placed usually less than 30 cm above the ground, often on a grassy bank. This species sometimes forms loose colonies. The clutch is two or three brown-speckled white eggs, which are incubated by the female alone for 12-14 days to hatching.
The Yellow-faced Grassquit has a weak buzzing trilled ttttt-tee call. The male vibrates his wings as he sings to the female from only a few centimetres away. This species feeds mainly on grass seeds, but also takes other seeds, berries and some insects.
