Blue-black grosbeak

The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society places this species in genus Cyanoloxia. In addition, in 2018 the committee split the eastern lowland population into a new species, the Amazonian grosbeak (Cyanoloxia rothschildii).

The blue-black grosbeak is sexually dimorphic. Females have dark brown plumage which can have a slight reddish hue. Males are dark blue with lighter blue eyebrows and shoulder patches on their wings. The forehead, the area just above the beak, is also a lighter shade of blue.

Often blue-black grosbeaks will not be seen since they prefer to stay hidden among the vegetation, so most of the time their presence is known only when they vocalize. Their song is composed of about six whistles with decreasing pitch and ends with a "seee seee sewee suwee sweet suuu." There are slight differences in the songs between the three different subspecies.

The call is a sharp "shek" or "chit" and will often be repeated many times.