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Lined Seedeater | Sporophila lineola
Witsterdikbekje | Semillero lineado
Lined Seedeater is a small seedeater of open country in South America. It breeds mainly in the east and south of the continent and moves north during the austral winter. In the Caribbean it is known only as a vagrant to Trinidad. Its Dutch name refers to the male's white crown stripe.
Voice
A short song of quick, clear notes and trills, similar to that of Lesson's Seedeater; migrants mainly give short calls.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm, with a short, thick bill. The male is black above, with a narrow white median crown stripe, a large white cheek patch, a white rump band and a small white wing patch. The throat is black, the rest of the underparts white. The female is olive-brown above and paler buff below, with a lighter belly.
Confusion species
Male Lesson's Seedeater Sporophila bouvronides, which breeds on Trinidad in the wet season, is almost identical but lacks the white crown stripe. Females of the two species cannot be separated with certainty in the field, and also resemble females of Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis and Ruddy-breasted Seedeater Sporophila minuta.
Habitat
Shrubby grassland, pasture, field edges and rough, cleared woodland. Migrants often join flocks of other seedeaters.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
On Trinidad a vagrant with a few records; not recorded from other islands. Reports from Guadeloupe and Saint Lucia on distribution maps are unconfirmed. Breeds from eastern Brazil to Bolivia, Paraguay and north-eastern Argentina and moves in the austral winter to Amazonia and northern South America, as far as Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In seedeater flocks in Trinidad grasslands, every male with a white cheek patch is worth checking for a white crown stripe. Females cannot be reliably told from Lesson's Seedeater; a valid record requires a well-documented male.
Conservation status
Not threatened. A widespread and fairly common species; in the Caribbean a rare visitor with no regular presence.
Scientific name
Sporophila lineola | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Loxia lineola; 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'. lineola is Latin for 'little line', after the male's white crown stripe. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bahia, Brazil.