Grayish Baywing - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Fabio
Porto Alegre, Brazil, September 2005

Agelaioides badius

Identification

18cm
Light brown overall with rufous wings, heavy black conical bill, black legs and eyes, and black lores.

Distribution

South America: found in Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.

Taxonomy

Especially older checklists have placed this species in the genus Molothrus, but it is now placed in genus Agelaioides.
Pale Baywing was formerly included in this species.

Subspecies

Photo © by Pantanal1
Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil

This is a polytypic species consisting of two subspecies^[1]:

• A. b. badius:

• Eastern Bolivia (Beni and Tarija) to Paraguay, Uruguay, northern Argentina and southern Brazil.

• A. b. bolivianus:

• Highlands of central and southern Bolivia

Habitat

Semi-open habitats, including scrub and light woodland.

Behaviour

It sometimes builds its own nest or uses those of other birds. It is a victim of brood parasitism by other cowbirds mainly the Screaming Cowbird Molothrus rufoaxillaris.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Wikipedia
3. Birdforum thread discussing taxonomy of this species

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Grayish Baywing. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Grayish_Baywing

External Links

• Arthur Grosset's Birds

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