Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor)

Other Names (World)
Black-faced Grassquit, Black Sparrow, Grass Bird (Jamaica)

Family
Thraupidae (Tanagers)

Size
10 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Linnaeus, 1766)

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical dry and moist shrubland, dry grassland. From sea-level - 1,300 m.

Range (Guide)

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).

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (10)...)

Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) [XC245260]
by Ross Gallardy from Bosque El Algarrobo, Vereda San Pedro, Tamara, Casanare, Colombia (song)

Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) [XC353190]
by Yair Guillermo Molina Mart\u00ednez. from Riohacha, La Guajira, Colombia (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 T��o 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 Andr�s Archipelago (Providencia, Santa Catalina and San Andr�s), in south-western Caribbean.
sharpei (Hartert, 1893) - Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Cura��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.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Black-faced Grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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