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Yellow-bellied Siskin | Spinus xanthogastrus
Geelbuiksijs | Jilguero ventriamarillo
The Yellow-bellied Siskin is a black-and-yellow siskin of the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. The male is largely black with a bright yellow belly. It is fairly scarce in the guide area and wanders in small flocks along forest edges and clearings in montane forest.
Voice
It calls a high, nasal chee and soft, twittering notes. The song is a long, rapid series of twitters and trills, often from a high branch.
Recording: David Monroy Rengifo — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm. The male is black on the head, throat, breast and upperparts, with a bright yellow belly and undertail coverts; on the black wing a yellow patch at the base of the flight feathers and a yellow tail base. The female is olive-green above and on the breast, yellow on the belly, with the same but fainter yellow wing patch. Bill short and pointed.
Confusion species
In the guide area no other siskin occurs in the same range. Black-headed Siskin Spinus notatus lives further north, from Mexico to Nicaragua, and has an olive-yellow back and yellow breast. Females of chlorophonias, such as Yellow-collared Chlorophonia Chlorophonia flavirostris and Golden-browed Chlorophonia Chlorophonia callophrys, are green but are chunky, lack a yellow wing patch and have a different call.
Habitat
Edges and clearings of montane forest and oak forest, pastures with scattered trees and scrub in the highlands, mostly between 1200 and 3000 m. It eats seeds of herbs and trees. It wanders in small flocks and is often present at a site only temporarily.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area in the highlands of Costa Rica, mainly the Cordillera de Talamanca, and western Panama, mainly Chiriquí. Outside the guide area in the Andes and associated ranges of Colombia and Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Look for it in the Talamanca highlands of Costa Rica and Chiriquí in Panama, along forest edges and in pastures with trees; flocks turn up irregularly, so repeated searching may be needed.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Local and fairly scarce in the guide area; more common elsewhere in its range. Deforestation in the highlands is a potential threat.
Scientific name
Spinus xanthogastrus | (Du Bus de Gisignies, B-AL, 1855)
Du Bus de Gisignies, B-AL described the species in 1855 as Chrysomitris xanthogastra; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Spinus was introduced in 1816 by Koch. Spinus goes back to Ancient Greek spinos, a name for a small bird that can no longer be identified with certainty. xanthogastrus is Greek, from xanthos 'yellow' and gastēr 'belly', after the yellow belly. The specimen the first description was based on came from Ocaña, Colombia.