Bird of the day
Wing-barred seedeater
Sporophila americana
The wing-barred seedeater (Sporophila americana) is a passerine bird from coastal regions of north-eastern South America in north-eastern Venezuela, Tobago, the Guianas, Amapá and north-eastern Pará (with a single record from Maranhão), Brazil, and along the Amazon River upstream to around Manaus. Formerly, it included the mainly Central American Sporophila corvina and the west Amazonian S. murallae as subspecies, in which case the combined species had the common name Variable Seedeater. Following the split, this common name is now restricted to S. corvina.
It has a total length of approximately 11 cm (4+1⁄4 in). Adult males have a relatively heavy black bill. The upperparts are black, except for a greyish rump (actually white finely streaked black, but only visible up-close) and two distinct white wing-bars (the lower often reduced). The underparts are white, except for a broad black pectoral collar (sometimes reduced and incomplete) and blackish mottling to the upper flanks. The far duller female has a brownish bill, dull buffy-olive upperparts and pale olive-ochre underparts. Juveniles resemble adult females.
Aliases
Sporophila americana
Range
