Blue-black Grassquit - BirdForum Opus

Male right, female left
Photo by mmdnje
Chongon, Guayas Province Ecuador

Volatinia jacarina

Identification

8·7–10·9 cm (3½-4¼ in)
Male

• Blue-black
• Black tail and wings
• White inner underwing
• Slim conical black bill
  

Female and immature: brown upperparts, buff, dark streaked underparts.

• A thread discussing Blue-black Grassquit male plumages

Juvenile
Photo by DABS
Arima, Trinidad, Spril 2018

Distribution

Central and South America and the Caribbean:
Central Americal: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
Caribbean (West Indies): Lesser Antilles, Windward Islands, Grenada, Trinidad, Tobago, Netherlands Antilles
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• V. j. splendens:

• Northern Mexico to northern South America, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago

• V. j. peruviensis:

• Arid Pacific slope of Ecuador, Peru and extreme northern Chile

Male jump display
Photo by Jamfaraco
Tubarão/SC, Brazil, December 2004

• V. j. jacarina:

• South-eastern Peru to eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, central and eastern Brazil and northern Argentina

Habitat

Open terrain, scrub, savannas, second growth, rice and corn fields, xerophytic areas; grasslands, agricultural lands, roadsides, parks and wooded lands.

Behaviour

Breeding

When displaying, they jumps vertically from its perch about 1 foot in the air and utters a high pitched 'Pee-Zing' and then with a downward half-somersault lands on its perch again.

It builds a small cup-shaped nest. The clutch consists of 1-4 pale green eggs blotched with reddish brown. Both sexes incubate for 9–10 days and the young fledge about 9-10 days later.

Diet

The diet consists mainly of grass seeds, but other seeds are included. They will also eat some insects and berries.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. BF Member observations
4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2018)
5. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-black Grassquit. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-black_Grassquit

External Links

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