Passerines | Passeriformes

Families in this order

• Manakins | Pipridae3 speciesManakins are small, compact songbirds of tropical forest with a short tail, a short, broad bill and relatively large eyes. In the region the family occurs only on Trinidad and Tobago, with three species: White-bearded and Golden-headed Manakins on Trinidad and Blue-backed Manakin on Tobago. Males are largely black or black and white, with a brightly coloured head, crown or back; females and young males are plain olive green and hard to tell apart. The diet consists mainly of small berries and fruit, often plucked from a twig in a short sally, supplemented with insects. Males take no part in nesting and display at fixed sites in the forest, alone or in groups. They make rapid jumps between twigs and produce snapping, buzzing or clicking sounds, which in White-bearded Manakin are made with the wings. The female alone builds a shallow cup slung in a horizontal fork and usually incubates two eggs. Identification is quickest by sound and by the colour pattern of the male.
• Cotingas | Cotingidae1 speciesCotingas form a varied family of fruit-eating songbirds of tropical America. In the region the family is represented by one species, Bearded Bellbird, which lives on Trinidad in the forest of the hills and mountains. The male is largely white with a brown head and carries a cluster of black, string-like wattles on the throat; the female is olive green with yellowish, streaked underparts and is inconspicuous in foliage. The birds have a wide gape with which they swallow fairly large fruits whole; the seeds are later regurgitated or passed, so that they play a part in dispersing trees. The male calls from a fixed, high perch in the canopy with a very loud, metallic stroke and a series of ringing notes, which carry far through the forest and are usually the first sign of the species. The female alone builds the nest, a thin platform of twigs, and cares for the single egg and the chick. Identification is almost always by the call.
• Tityras and becards | Tityridae3 speciesTityras and becards are medium-sized songbirds of forest edge and canopy, with a large head, a stout, slightly hooked bill and a fairly short tail. Three species occur in the region. Jamaican Becard is endemic to Jamaica, where it lives in forest and wooded gardens; the male is black, the female brown with a rufous head. Black-tailed Tityra and White-winged Becard live on Trinidad and Tobago. Tityras are largely white or pale grey with black and have bare pink to red skin around the eye and at the base of the bill; they give short grunting or rasping calls. Becards are smaller and have soft whistled or chirping calls. The family eats large insects and fruit, taken from a lookout perch or plucked from foliage while hovering. Becards build a large, globular nest of plant material with an entrance at the side or bottom, often high at the end of a branch; tityras nest in a tree cavity. Identification is by silhouette, bill and colour pattern.
• Tyrant flycatchers | Tyrannidae66 speciesWith 66 species, tyrant flycatchers are the largest songbird family in the region. The bill is usually flat and broad, and many species hunt flying insects from a fixed lookout perch, catching them in a short sally; elaenias also eat much fruit. The plumage is often grey, olive, brown or yellow. On the islands the main groups are the kingbirds, such as Grey Kingbird, common almost everywhere, and Loggerhead Kingbird of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas; the Myiarchus flycatchers, with several island endemics such as Puerto Rican and La Sagra's Flycatchers; Caribbean Elaenia; and the pewees of the genus Contopus, such as Cuban Pewee. During migration and in winter North American species such as Empidonax flycatchers are added. Trinidad and Tobago also hold South American forest species, from tiny tody-flycatchers to the large Great Kiskadee. Song is not learned and is fixed for each species; it is often the best character for similar species. Most build an open cup; Myiarchus nests in cavities.
• Typical antbirds | Thamnophilidae8 speciesAntbirds are songbirds of tropical America that in the region occur only on Trinidad and Tobago, with eight species. They live in thickets and the lower and middle layers of forest, forest edge and mangrove. Build ranges from small, slender antwrens to robust antshrikes with a heavy bill hooked at the tip, such as Great Antshrike. In many species the sexes differ clearly: the male is black, grey or barred black and white, as in Barred Antshrike, the female brown or rufous. The birds search for insects and other invertebrates among leaves and twigs and in the leaf litter; some species follow swarming ants to catch flushed insects. The song consists of simple, often accelerating series of whistles or rattles, which are fixed for each species and form the main character in dense foliage. The nest is usually an open cup slung in a horizontal fork; both parents incubate and feed the young. Identification is by sound, bill shape and the colour pattern of both sexes.
• Antthrushes | Formicariidae1 speciesAntthrushes are ground-dwelling songbirds of tropical America. One species occurs in the region, Black-faced Antthrush, which lives in humid forest on Trinidad. The bird has a compact body, long legs, a fairly short, straight bill and a short tail that is held cocked while walking. The plumage is mainly brown with a darker face and throat, a camouflage suited to the shaded forest floor. In posture and gait the bird resembles a small rail more than a thrush: it walks slowly and jerkily over the leaf litter, turning leaves in search of insects, spiders and other small invertebrates. Because the species is inconspicuous and seldom flies, the song is often the only sign of its presence: a clear, whistled note followed by a series of shorter, descending whistles. The nest is in a cavity in a tree trunk or stump, often close to the ground, and both parents share nesting duties. In practice identification is mainly by song and the walking, rail-like posture.
• Ovenbirds and woodcreepers | Furnariidae10 speciesOvenbirds form a large family of tropical America that also includes the woodcreepers. In the region the family occurs only on Trinidad and Tobago, with ten species. Nearly all species are brown, rufous or olive brown, often with pale streaks or spots, and differ mainly in build, bill and behaviour. The woodcreepers, such as Cocoa, Plain-brown and Straight-billed Woodcreepers, climb up trunks like a woodpecker, supported by a stiff tail with projecting shafts; they use the bill to search for insects in bark and moss. Spinetails, such as Yellow-chinned and Pale-breasted Spinetails, are small, long-tailed birds of scrub and marsh that build large, closed nests of twigs. A leaftosser, which searches the leaf litter on the forest floor, and a xenops also occur. The diet consists mainly of insects. Song is usually simple, with rattles, trills or repeated notes. Woodcreepers nest in tree cavities. Identification is by silhouette, bill, behaviour and voice.
• Vireos | Vireonidae19 speciesVireos are small to medium songbirds found only in the Americas; nineteen species occur in the region. In looks they fall between a warbler and a small shrike: greenish or grey above, pale below, with a stouter bill than a warbler's and a small hook at the tip. The pattern of head, eye-ring and eye-stripe is the key feature. They move slowly through the canopy, picking caterpillars and other insects from the leaves and also eating berries. Black-whiskered Vireo breeds on almost every island and largely moves to South America after the breeding season. The Greater Antilles have species of their own, such as Cuban Vireo, two species on Jamaica, Flat-billed Vireo of Hispaniola and Puerto Rican Vireo; Thick-billed Vireo lives in the Bahamas, Cuba and the Cayman Islands. In winter North American species such as White-eyed Vireo are added, and Trinidad has Rufous-browed Peppershrike and two small greenlets.
• Crows and jays | Corvidae6 speciesThe largest and heaviest-built songbirds, with a powerful all-purpose bill, bristly feathers over the nostrils and strong legs used for walking as much as hopping. They eat almost anything, hide food for later and remember where they put it; their brains are the largest for their size of any bird, which shows in how readily they exploit tools, carrion and human habits. True song is absent — the calls are harsh and grating — but many species mimic other sounds. Pairs stay together for years, build a bulky stick nest, and the sexes look alike.
• Swallows and martins | Hirundinidae16 speciesBirds that take all their food in the air and are built entirely for it: long pointed wings, a very short flat bill with an enormous gape, and small weak feet on short legs, good for perching but hardly for walking. They drink and bathe by skimming low over water. The nest is a cup or closed flask of mud pellets against a wall, a self-dug tunnel in a steep bank, or a cavity — often in colonies. They are migrants that gather over reedbeds and wires in late summer; unlike the swifts they resemble in flight, these are ordinary songbirds that will settle on a wire.
• Palmchat | Dulidae1 speciesThis family contains a single species, the Palmchat, found only on Hispaniola and a few small offshore islands. It is a stocky songbird of almost twenty centimetres with olive-brown upperparts, a greenish tinge on the rump and wings, and creamy white underparts densely streaked with brown. The bill is short, heavy and yellowish, and the eye is red. Palmchats live year-round in noisy groups in open country with scattered palms, in gardens, parks and dry forest, from the lowlands up to middle elevations. Their food consists mainly of fruit, berries and flowers. The communal nest is characteristic: a large mass of twigs, often in the crown of a royal palm, in which several pairs each have their own chamber with a separate entrance. Constant chattering and squabbling can be heard around such a nest. The family is considered to be related to the waxwings and silky-flycatchers. In the region the combination of heavy bill, streaked breast and group behaviour makes the species unmistakable.
• Waxwings | Bombycillidae1 speciesCompact songbirds with a strikingly soft, dense plumage without spot or streak, a crest, a black mask and a short bill with a wide gape. The red, horny plates at the tips of the secondaries, which give the family its name, occur in no other group of birds; the tail ends in a bright yellow or red band. For most of the year they live on berries, swallowed whole and passed through a short gut in minutes, so that a flock can work through an enormous quantity; in the breeding season they take insects on the wing over water. They defend no feeding territory and have no true song, only high silvery trills that keep the flock together. The nest is a loose cup of twigs, moss and lichen on a side branch, and the breeding area shifts from year to year with the berry crop.
• Kinglets | Regulidae1 speciesVery small, round-bodied birds with a short tail and a needle-fine bill, used to pick springtails, aphids and spider eggs from among needles and bark crevices, usually while hanging beneath a branch tip and sometimes hovering briefly at the foliage. The crown is the family's signature: a yellow to fiery red stripe bordered with black on both sides, raised in display and in threat, and the head pattern is what separates the species. The voice sits exceptionally high, around eight kilohertz, high enough that older observers no longer hear the family at all. The nest is a deep hanging cup of moss, lichen and spider silk slung beneath a conifer branch and lined with hundreds of feathers, holding eight to eleven eggs — a large clutch for so small a body. On winter nights the birds huddle together to save heat.
• Gnatcatchers | Polioptilidae3 speciesGnatcatchers are small, slender songbirds with a thin bill and a long tail that is constantly cocked and flicked from side to side, showing the white outer tail feathers. Three species occur in the region. The Blue-grey Gnatcatcher breeds in the Bahamas and also occurs in winter on Cuba, the Cayman Islands and other northern islands; it is blue-grey above and dull white below, with a white eye-ring. The Cuban Gnatcatcher is endemic to Cuba and lives mainly in dry coastal forest and scrub; it can be recognised by a black crescent behind the ear. On Trinidad lives the Trilling Gnatwren, a brown bird with a very long, straight bill and a short, cocked tail, which forages in dense undergrowth and gives a dry trill. All species actively search the foliage for small insects and spiders. The nest is a small, deep cup of plant fibres, spider silk and lichens. The family is related to the wrens.
• Wrens | Troglodytidae8 speciesVery small, rounded birds with short rounded wings and a short tail often carried cocked, and a fine slightly decurved bill for teasing insects out of crevices. They move mouse-like through the lowest layer of wood, hedgebank, wall and stream side, slipping into root plates and log piles, and keep to the ground more than to the bush. For so small a body the song is extraordinarily loud: a long hard phrase with a rattle in it, to be heard the year round. The nest is a domed ball with a side entrance, of which the male builds several for the female to choose from; apart from a single species the whole family lives in the Americas.
• Mockingbirds and thrashers | Mimidae10 speciesMedium-sized, slim songbirds with a long tail, sturdy legs and an often slightly decurved bill, much used on the ground in leaf litter. The family takes its name from mimicry; the mockingbirds in particular pick up the calls and song phrases of other birds. The song is long and repetitive, with phrases often delivered several times over. The family occurs only in the Americas; nine species live in the region. Northern Mockingbird is common in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas, Tropical Mockingbird in the Lesser Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago, and Bahama Mockingbird in the Bahamas and on a few small islands off Cuba and Jamaica. Four genera are Caribbean: Pearly-eyed Thrasher, which nests in cavities and also eats the eggs and young of other birds, Scaly-breasted Thrasher, the two tremblers with their long bill and drooping wings, and White-breasted Thrasher of Martinique and Saint Lucia. Grey Catbird is a winter visitor from North America.
• Starlings | Sturnidae1 speciesRobust birds with a straight pointed bill and strong legs; they walk purposefully over the ground rather than hop. They feed by pushing the closed bill into the turf and forcing it open there — the jaw muscles are built for it, and the eyes are set far enough forward for the bird to look down along the open bill. In many species the plumage is metallic, a gloss that comes from feather structure rather than pigment, often flecked with pale spots. They are thoroughly social: flocks while feeding, communal roosts, and nest holes close together; many species are accomplished mimics.
• Thrushes | Turdidae20 speciesMedium-sized birds with an upright carriage, long strong legs and a moderately long, slender bill. On the ground they work in short stages: a few hops, a halt to look and listen, then a strike. They also eat much fruit. The nest is a solid cup, in many species plastered inside with mud; young birds are spotted even where the adults are plain. Twenty species live in the region. The red-legged thrushes of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas are common, and there are also island species such as La Selle Thrush of Hispaniola, two thrushes of its own on Jamaica and Forest Thrush of several Lesser Antilles. The solitaires, with their clear, fluting song, live in mountain forests of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and some Lesser Antilles. Spectacled Thrush occurs in the southern Lesser Antilles and Trinidad, where South American thrushes also live. North American Catharus thrushes pass through; Bicknell's Thrush winters mainly on Hispaniola.
• Weavers | Ploceidae3 speciesSmall to medium seed-eaters with a short, heavy conical bill and strong feet, which do not pile their nests up but knot them. The male starts with a ring: he tears a narrow strip from a grass, reed or palm leaf, loops it round a stem or thin branch and pulls the end through with his bill; from that ring he works forward and back until a closed globe stands there, the entrance at the bottom and in a number of species a spout of tens of centimetres below it. Bill and foot serve as the loom, and the work takes two or three days; the female does not build but inspects and lines the inside, and if she rejects it the nest is pulled apart and begun again. Not every member of the family weaves: the buffalo weavers heap a mass of thorny sticks around the crown of a baobab or a pole, and the sociable weaver builds, with many pairs together, a single permanent grass haystack that can weigh hundreds of kilos under a tree crown or a pylon, with dozens of separate entrance tunnels underneath in which the colony also roosts outside the breeding season. In the bishops and widowbirds of the genus Euplectes the male moults in the rains into a short-lived black plumage marked with red, yellow or orange, with the back and rump feathers raised or with greatly elongated tail feathers, and afterwards falls back into a streaked sparrow-coloured dress barely separable from the female. The family breeds in colonies, from a few nests in a thorn tree to breeding grounds of millions of pairs in reed or thorn scrub; the colonies draw raptors, snakes and the diederik cuckoo, which lays its egg with a whole series of species in this family.
• Indigobirds and whydahs | Viduidae1 speciesSmall seed-eaters with a thick, often coral-red conical bill, which build no nest and raise no young of their own. The female lays her white eggs in the nests of waxbills; the host pair incubates them and feeds the strange chick alongside its own, for nothing is turned out of the nest. This works because the chick matches its host down to the details: the same spots, blotches and coloured papillae at the back of the gaping bill, the same begging posture and the same begging call as the nest mates beside it. Each species is tied to its own circle of hosts, and the males take the song of their host into their own repertoire, so that females come to the right species. In the breeding season males wear black and white and, in some, greatly elongated tail feathers, used in a display hovering above the female; out of that season every species is streaked and sparrow-like, separable in practice only by bill colour.
• Waxbills | Estrildidae10 speciesSmall to very small seed-eaters with a short, thick conical bill — bright coral red in many species, silver-grey or blue-black in others — a compact body and short, rounded wings. They live in parties the year round and take their food from the seed head itself, clambering, hanging or riding the stem down under their own weight, and from the ground beneath. The nest is a closed ball of interwoven grass with an entrance at the side, often drawn out into a short tube, set low in a tussock, a thorn bush or dense reed; both parents build and take turns to incubate. The nestlings carry a fixed pattern of black spots and lines at the back of the gaping bill, with coloured papillae at the gape that light up in the dark of the nest and point the parents to the food. That food is seed brought up softened in the crop and given out one chick at a time.
• Sparrows | Passeridae1 speciesStocky, short-legged seed-eaters with a heavy conical bill whose cutting edges are sharp enough to crack a grain of wheat. The tongue carries a small extra bone, the preglossale, which serves as an anvil: the seed is turned against the palate, the husk peeled off and the kernel swallowed, the whole job taking a second. Adults live on seed; the young are raised on caterpillars and aphids. The nest is an untidy domed ball of grass, straw and feathers stuffed into a cavity — a tree hole, a wall crevice, a roof tile or another bird's abandoned nest — and usually stands in a loose colony, with two to four broods a year. Bathing is done in dry dust: the bird kicks out a scrape and works the sand through its plumage. Several species live beside people all year, in villages, farmyards, cities and grain stores, where spilt feed and the buildings themselves supply both food and nest holes.
• Wagtails and pipits | Motacillidae1 speciesSlender, long-legged songbirds that walk rather than hop: the foot pushes off, the head nods with it, and the long tail is pumped up and down without a pause — in the wagtails hard enough to rock the whole body. The bill is thin, straight and pointed, made for picking insects off the ground, off wet stones or out of the air; the leg is long and fine, and in the pipits the claw of the hind toe is greatly lengthened, nearly as long as the toe itself, which gives purchase in grass and sedge. Two appearances on one frame: the wagtails boldly marked in black, white, grey and yellow, the pipits brown and streaked and separated from each other mainly on call and wing formula. The nest is a cup on the ground, hidden under a tussock or in a niche, and the song is delivered in the air: up, sing, and down again on a parachuting descent.
• Finches | Fringillidae9 speciesThe conical bill is the mark of the family: seed is not swallowed but husked, held in a groove in the palate while the lower mandible slides the coat off. The heavier the bill, the harder the kernel it can deal with, so its shape tells from species to species what the bird depends on. Outside the breeding season they range in flocks over seed-rich fields, woods and shores, with a bounding flight and persistent contact calls that identify them at a distance. Unlike most songbirds, many species feed their young not on insects but on regurgitated seed, carried in a pouch of the gullet.
• New World sparrows | Passerellidae9 speciesThe sparrows of the New World: seed-eaters with a short conical bill, strong feet and a fairly long, round-ended tail, mostly brown and streaked above. They feed on the ground in leaf litter and under bushes, with a scratch that marks the whole family: both feet kicked back together in a short hop. The head pattern is what identification turns on: crown bands, supercilium, eye-stripe and malar stripe in fixed arrangements. They have been placed in a family of their own since around 2017, apart from the Emberizidae. In the region the family is small, with nine species. Zapata Sparrow occurs only on Cuba, mainly in the Zapata Swamp. Rufous-collared Sparrow lives in the mountains of Hispaniola, and Grasshopper Sparrow has resident populations in the Greater Antilles. The other species, such as Savannah Sparrow, are winter visitors or vagrants from North America, mainly to the Bahamas and Cuba.
• Chat-tanagers | Calyptophilidae2 speciesThis family consists of two species of the genus Calyptophilus, the Western and the Eastern Chat-Tanager, both found only on Hispaniola. For a long time they were placed with the tanagers; on the basis of recent genetic research they have been given a family of their own, which belongs to a small group of Caribbean songbird families. They are birds of about twenty centimetres with a long, rounded tail, dark olive-brown upperparts, a white throat and breast, and yellow or orange-yellow on the lores, around the eye and at the bend of the wing. They live hidden in the dense undergrowth of montane forest and humid scrub, searching low down or on the ground for insects, other invertebrates and fruit. The song is loud and varied and heard mainly at dawn and dusk, and is often the only sign of their presence. The two species differ mainly in range and in details of colour and size. Both have a small range and depend on undisturbed forest.
• Hispaniolan tanagers | Phaenicophilidae4 speciesThis small family is endemic to Hispaniola and comprises four species in three genera, formerly placed partly with the tanagers and partly with the New World warblers. The Black-crowned Palm-Tanager is widespread across the island, from dry lowland forest to montane forest, gardens and plantations; the Grey-crowned Palm-Tanager is restricted to south-western Haiti. Both are green above with a grey nape, a white throat and grey underparts, and have a black or grey crown with white spots around the eye. The Green-tailed Warbler is a small, grey-green bird with white arcs above and below the eye, a red eye and a greenish tail, found both in dry scrub and in montane forest. The White-winged Warbler lives in humid montane forest, has a grey head and a white patch on the wing, and has become scarce through forest loss. The species feed on insects and fruit, often in mixed flocks with other songbirds, and give sharp, chipping calls.
• Puerto Rican tanager | Nesospingidae1 speciesThis family contains a single species, the Puerto Rican Tanager, found only on Puerto Rico. The species was long treated as a tanager, but on the basis of genetic research it has been placed in a family of its own, which belongs to a small group of Caribbean songbird families. It is a bird of about eighteen centimetres with olive-brown upperparts, a darker head, dull white underparts with faint brownish streaks on the breast, and a small white patch on the wing, to which the scientific name speculiferus refers. Male and female look alike. The species lives in humid montane forest and mid-elevation forest in the island's mountain ranges, where it is often common. Puerto Rican Tanagers move through the forest in noisy groups and frequently form the core of mixed flocks of songbirds. They eat fruit, seeds and insects, which they search for at all levels of the forest. The call is a dry, harsh chatter. The nest is an open cup in a tree or shrub.
• Spindalises | Spindalidae4 speciesSpindalises are medium-sized, stocky songbirds with a short, conical bill. They were formerly included among the tanagers; recently they have been placed in a family of their own, which occurs only in the Caribbean. Four species of the genus Spindalis live in the region: the Western Spindalis in the Bahamas, Cuba and Grand Cayman, and separate species on Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Males have a striking black-and-white striped head, a yellow to orange breast and throat, an olive-green or rufous back, and black wings with white edgings. Females are much duller, mainly olive-grey, with only a faint head pattern. Spindalises live in forest, scrub and gardens from the lowlands to the mountains. They feed mainly on fruit and berries, supplemented with buds, flowers and insects, and often gather in fruiting trees. The song is a high, thin, wispy whistle that is easily overlooked. The nest is a loose cup in a tree or shrub.
• Cuban warblers | Teretistridae2 speciesThis family is endemic to Cuba and consists of two species of the genus Teretistris, which were long placed with the New World warblers but are now regarded as a separate Caribbean family. The Yellow-headed Warbler occurs in western and central Cuba and on the Isla de la Juventud; it is grey above and pale grey below, with a yellow head and throat. The Oriente Warbler replaces it in the east of the island; it is also grey above, but has a yellow throat and underparts and a pale ring around the eye. Both have a fairly long, thin, slightly curved bill. They live in forest and scrub of various types, from dry coastal forest to montane forest, and are locally common. In small groups they actively search leaves, branches and vines for insects and other small invertebrates, and they often form the core of mixed flocks of songbirds. Their shrill, repeated calls usually give away such a group from a distance.
• New World blackbirds | Icteridae33 speciesAn exclusively American family, with 32 species in the region. The bill is straight, sharp and without a hook, and it is used not only to pinch but also to lever things open: the bird drives the closed tip into a leaf sheath, a rolled leaf or a crack in the bark and then forces the mandibles apart, laying the food bare. The orioles of the genus Icterus are yellow or orange with black; they weave a hanging nest, often under a palm frond. Almost every large island has a species of its own, from Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Jamaica to the Bahamas, Montserrat, Saint Lucia and Martinique. There are also black species, such as Greater Antillean Grackle in the Greater Antilles, Carib Grackle in the Lesser Antilles and several blackbirds of their own on Cuba and Puerto Rico. Shiny Cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of other species. Trinidad has South American species such as Crested Oropendola and Yellow-rumped Cacique, and Bobolink passes through on migration.
• New World warblers | Parulidae54 speciesSmall, short-billed insect-eaters of the foliage, nine to fifteen centimetres long. They work a crown methodically, picking caterpillars and other insects from the undersides of leaves or taking them in a short sally. With 54 species they are, after the tyrant flycatchers, the largest songbird family in the region. Most are migrants from North America that stay here from autumn to spring or pass through, such as Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Palm Warbler and Cape May Warbler. Their plumage changes strongly with the season, so that a bird in winter plumage often has to be identified on details such as wingbars, tail pattern and undertail coverts. Kirtland's Warbler winters almost entirely in the Bahamas. Many islands also have resident species of their own, such as Arrowhead Warbler of Jamaica, Elfin Woods Warbler of Puerto Rico, St. Lucia Warbler, Plumbeous Warbler of Dominica and Guadeloupe and Whistling Warbler of Saint Vincent. Mangrove Warbler breeds on almost every island.
• Cardinals | Cardinalidae9 speciesAn exclusively American family of medium-sized seed-eaters, recognisable by the bill: heavy, short and purely conical, with a curved upper edge and a broad base, built to crack hard seeds and stones and, in summer, to deal with caterpillars and beetles as well. The second mark is the difference between the sexes. The breeding male carries one saturated colour over almost the whole body — red, deep blue, or blue with chestnut and yellow — while the female is warm brown to olive, with at most a wash of that colour on rump and tail edges. Outside the breeding season the male moults into the same inconspicuous brown, so that autumn and winter birds are barely separable by sex and age and must be worked out on bill shape and tail length. They live in scrub, woodland edge and rank margins, sing from a high post and build an open nest low in a bush.
• Tanagers | Thraupidae41 speciesThe tanagers form a large and highly varied family of American songbirds; more than forty species occur in the region. In recent revisions several Caribbean groups, such as the spindalises and the palm-tanagers, have been split off as families of their own, while the grassquits and bullfinches had already been moved to the tanagers. In the Antilles most species belong to a Caribbean group that also includes Darwin's finches: the Bananaquit, which drinks nectar with its curved bill and builds a domed nest, the grassquits of the genera Tiaris, Melanospiza and Phonipara, the bullfinches of Loxigilla and Melopyrrha, and the Jamaican genera Loxipasser and Euneornis. They mostly have a short, thick bill and black, olive-green or grey plumage, sometimes with red or yellow. Trinidad and Tobago also hold colourful fruit and insect eaters such as Tangara, Thraupis, Ramphocelus, Tachyphonus, Dacnis, Cyanerpes and Tersina, and seed eaters such as Sporophila, Volatinia and Sicalis. Food ranges from seeds and fruit to nectar and insects; most species build an open cup nest.