Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica (B), Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St Kitts And Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB).
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) [XC841611]
by id from CIEZA UNEFM, Miranda, Falc\u00f3n, Venezuela (call, song)
Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) [XC841609]
by Francisco contreras from CIEZA UNEFM, Miranda, Falc\u00f3n, Venezuela (song)
Subspecies
Genus may belong in tanager family (Thraupidae). Appears to be part of a clade which also includes several Caribbean genera (Euneornis, Loxipasser, Melopyrrha, Loxigilla, Melanospiza), Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), and "Darwin's finches" (Certhidea, Platyspiza, Pinaroloxias, Camarhynchus, Geospiza). Molecular data suggest that genus as currently constituted is polyphyletic. Further research is required.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) - Bahama Is; Cayo Tío Pepe, Nwest of Isabela de Sagua, off northern Cuba.
marchii (Baird, SF, 1864) - Jamaica and Hispaniola, including nearby small islands.
omissus Jardine, 1847 - Puerto Rico east through Lesser Antilles to Tobago, and mainland from northern Colombia (Guajira Peninsula and western Santander) east through coastal Venezuela to Sucre and Margarita I.
grandior (Cory, 1887) - San Andrés Archipelago (Providencia, Santa Catalina and San Andrés), in south-western Caribbean.
sharpei (Hartert, 1893) - Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Curaí§ao and Bonaire).
tortugensis Cory, 1909 - I La Tortuga, off northern Venezuela.
johnstonei (Lowe, 1906) - La Blanquilla and Los Hermanos, off northern Venezuela.
huilae Miller, AH, 1952 - Magdalena Valley, in central Colombia.