Black-faced grassquit

The black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) is a small bird. It is recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwin's finches. It breeds in the West Indies except Cuba, on Tobago but not Trinidad, and along the northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela.

Black-faced grassquit
male, Jamaica
female, Jamaica

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Melanospiza
Species:
M. bicolor
Binomial name
Melanospiza bicolor
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
  • Fringilla bicolor Linnaeus, 1766
  • Melanospiza bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766)

Breeding

This is a common bird in long grass or scrub in open or semi-open areas, including roadsides and ricefields. It makes a domed grass nest, lined with finer grasses, and placed low in a bush or on a bank. The typical clutch is two or three whitish eggs blotched with reddish brown. Both sexes build the nest and feed the young.

An adult female

Description

Adult black-faced grassquits are 10.2 cm long and weigh 10.5 g. They have a short conical black bill with an obvious curve to the culmen. The male is olive green above, paler grey-olive below, and has a black head and breast. Female and immature birds have dull olive-grey upperparts and head, and paler grey underparts becoming whiter on the belly.

Males on the South American mainland have more extensively black underparts, shading to a grey belly.

Diet

The black-faced grassquit feeds mainly on seeds, especially of grasses and weeds. It is often found in small groups, but is solitary at evening roosts.

Call

The male has a display flight in which he flies for short distances, vibrating his wings and giving a buzzing dik-zeezeezee call.

gollark: ↓ palaiologos
gollark: The policy is cheap?
gollark: That policy sounds *incredibly* isomorphic.
gollark: ¡¡¡
gollark: In some cases I consider them aesthetically pleasing. In some cases I do not.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Melanospiza bicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • French, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
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