- Sporophila corvina
Identification
Photo by Stanley Jones
Metropolitan Park, Panamá City, Panamá Province, Panama, February 2018
10.5 cm with a dark, typical Seedeater bill.
This species is indeed variable.
Some males almost all black except for a small white patch on the folded wing (subspecies corvina). Most other males show pale underside and a half collar with varying amounts of black on throat; some southern subspecies are dark slaty grey on upperside.
The female is buff to tan overall.
Similar Species
The Thick-billed Seed-Finch is very similar, but it has a straight culmen, contrasting with the quite curved culmen of the Variable Seedeater.
Distribution
South Mexico through Central America and in South America west of the Andes from Colombia to northwest Peru.
Taxonomy
These four subspecies are sometimes considered part of a larger species also called Variable Seedeater but with scientific name Sporophila americana; in the split version, Sporophila americana is Wing-barred Seedeater. Part of the reason for the previous treatment was confusion over the status of Caqueta Seedeater. Today, these three species and Gray Seedeater are treated as parts of a superspecies.
Subspecies
Four subspecies are recognized:
- S.c. corvina
- S.c. hoffmannii
- Costa Rica and western Panama (Pacific slope)
- S.c. hicksii
- Most of Panama to western Colombia
- S.c. ophthalmica
The two last subspecies are both only found west of the Andes. At least one authority considers S.c. corvina a full species, Black Seedeater based on it having only a narrow zone of hybridization with the rest of the species in the Panama Canal area.
Habitat
Lowlands and foothills up to 1,500 m (1800 m in Ecuador) altitude in semi-open areas such as forest edges, roadsides, low scrub and gardens. It also flocks with other species of seedeaters in pasture, weedy fields and other grassland.
Behaviour
Diet
Their main diet consists of seeds, particularly grass seed, with the addition of some berries and insects.
Breeding
The deep cup nest is constructed from fine grass, rootlets, tendrils and fibres. The clutch contains 2 (very occasionally 3) brown-speckled pale grey eggs which are incubated by the female alone for 12–14 days to hatching. They fledge after 12 days.
Gallery
Click on photo for larger image
Male, Subspecies S.c. corvina
Photo by Ana Maria
Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica, July 2010
Male, Subspecies S.c. hoffmannii
Photo © by Luis R
El Golfito. Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, 7 March 2020
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- SACC proposal to recognize Caqueta Seedeater
- Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124
- Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
- Jaramillo, A., J. del Hoyo, N. Collar, and C.J. Sharpe (2020). Variable Seedeater (Sporophila corvina), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.varsee3.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Variable Seedeater. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Variable_Seedeater
