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Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch | Sporophila angolensis
Zwartkopzaadkraker | Semillero curió
Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch is a seedeater with a heavy, almost square bill used to crack hard seeds of grasses and sedges. It lives in northern and central South America and on Trinidad. It has long been widely trapped and kept for its song, and on Trinidad the wild population has declined sharply as a result. The species was formerly placed in the genus Oryzoborus.
Voice
The song is a long, melodious series of whistled notes mixed with chirps and chatter, often given from an exposed perch.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
11–12 cm, with a very heavy black bill with a straight, almost square outline. The male is black, with chestnut lower breast, belly and undertail coverts, a small white wing speculum and white underwings that show mainly in flight. The female is warm brown, more cinnamon below, also with white underwings but without the speculum.
Confusion species
No other black seedeater in the region has a chestnut belly. Male Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina is entirely glossy blue-black with a pointed bill. The female resembles females of the smaller seedeaters, such as Grey Seedeater Sporophila intermedia, but the heavy, angular bill is decisive.
Habitat
Edges of forest and marsh, rough shrubby grassland, overgrown fields and clearings in moist forest, mostly in the lowlands. It feeds mainly on seeds of grasses and sedges.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
On Trinidad a rare resident with few recent records; as the species is widely kept as a cage bird there, some of these may involve escapes. Not known with certainty from Tobago or the other islands. Elsewhere from eastern Colombia and Venezuela through the Guianas and Amazonia to Bolivia, Paraguay, eastern Brazil and north-eastern Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Chances are slim; the best bets are rough forest and marsh edges in the lowlands of Trinidad. The long, varied song is the best lead. A bird in or near settlements may be an escaped cage bird.
Conservation status
Not threatened globally. Very scarce on Trinidad because of trapping for the cage-bird trade and song competitions, and because of habitat loss.
Scientific name
Sporophila angolensis | (Linnaeus, 1766)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Loxia angolensis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Sporophila was introduced in 1844 by Cabanis. Sporophila is Greek, from sporos 'seed' and philos 'lover': 'seed-lover'. angolensis means 'of Angola': Linnaeus wrongly gave Angola as the origin of this South American bird. The specimen the first description was based on came from eastern Brazil (originally given in error as 'Angola').