Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Breeds northern Colombia (northern and east of Andes), west, central and northern Venezuela, the Guianas, Trinidad and Tobago. Most migrate south to northern Amazonia in Brazil, south-eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, north-eastern Peru and Bolivia (Beni and Santa Cruz).
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Lesson's Seedeater (Sporophila) [XC537616]
by id from Purus River, Boca do Acre, State of Amazonas, Brazil (song)
Lesson's Seedeater (Sporophila) [XC475365]
by Jerome Fischer from Sani Lodge, Sucumb\u00edos, Ecuador (call)
Subspecies
Molecular evidence suggests that genus is closely related to Oryzoborus, which should perhaps be subsumed within it. Further, that both genera should be placed in the tanager family (Thraupidae). Forms a superspecies with Lined Seedeater (Sporophila lineola) and has been treated as conspecific.
Proposed geographical subspecies restricta, known from a single specimen from Magdalena Valley, in Colombia, lies well within range of variation of the species elsewhere and does not merit recognition.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
bouvronides (Lesson, 1831) - Northern Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Guianas.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet