Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina Scientific name definitions

Taxonomic note: Lump. This account is a combination of multiple species accounts originally published in HBW Alive. That content has been combined and labeled here at the subspecies level. Moving forward we will create a more unified account for this parent taxon. Please consider contributing your expertise to update this account.

The Variable Seedeater is, as the name suggests, geographically variable in appearance - at least with respect to the male plumage. This species occurs from southeastern Mexico south to western Colombia, Ecuador, and extreme northwestern Peru. Males of the northern subspecies (corvina; Mexico to western Panama) are entirely black, except for a white spot at the base of the primaries. (The all-black male corvina should be distinguished with care from the male Thick-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus funereus, which has a similar color pattern but has a stouter bill.) The amount of white in the plumage increases with decreasing latitude: on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica and western Panama (hoffmanni), the belly and rump also are white, as is a narrow white crescent on the sides of the neck. Both of these subspecies intergrade in central Panama with an even whiter subspecies (hicksii; eastern Panama and Colombia), in which the throat also is white. The southernmost subspecies (ophthalmica) is similar to hicksii. Apart from the interesting variation in the male plumage, the Variable Seedeater is a standard Sporophila. It forages primarily seeds, and forages in pairs or in small groups, often with other seedeaters, in weedy fields, pastures, and other open habitats.

Variable Seedeater (Black)

9·6–11·5 cm; 9·5–12·5 g. Tiny passerine with thick bill approximately as long as it is deep, with distinct rounded culmen. Male is entirely black, except white patch at base of primaries, and sometimes a white stripe on mid-line of belly; iris dark brown; bill and legs blackish. Female is brown on head and upperparts to lower back, paler warm buff on rump and uppertail-coverts; upperwing and tail feathers dark brown with warm olive-brown edges, diffuse whitish bases on primaries (indistinct whitish panel on folded wing); paler and buffier below, palest on throat, contrasting narrow brownish breastband; bill dark grey. Juvenile is similar to female with grey-brown body, brownish primary-coverts, brown greater coverts with thin buffy tips, and rectrices narrow and brownish; immature male brownish like female, but blackish wings and tail, and extensive and patchy black feathering on breast, crown, face and back.

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

9·6–11·5 cm; 9·5–12·5 g. Tiny passerine with thick bill approximately as long as it is deep, with distinct rounded culmen. Male nominate race is entirely black above with contrasting white rump, and usually a white lower eye-crescent, well-marked white panel at base of folded primaries, chin white, narrow white band on lower throat continuing as larger white spur on side of neck, contrasting narrow black breastband, rest of underparts white with variable black splotching on lower breast and especially, thighs blackish; iris dark brown; bill and legs blackish. Female is brown on head and upperparts to lower back, paler warm buff on rump and uppertail-coverts; upperwing and tail feathers dark brown with warm olive-brown edges, diffuse whitish bases on primaries (indistinct whitish panel on folded wing); paler and buffier below, palest on throat, contrasting narrow brownish breastband; bill dark grey. Juvenile is similar to female; immature male brownish like female, but blackish wings and tail, and extensive and patchy black feathering on breast, crown, face and back. Races differ mainly in plumage of male: hicksii has white rump variably barred with black, smaller white panel at base of folded primaries, black malar, broad black breastband, rest of underparts white with variable black splotching on lower breast and especially flanks, thighs blackish (some have black chin area more extensive, extreme examples with entire neck side to throat and malar black, these also with white primaries much reduced, rump nearly entirely black); hoffmanni is like previous, but throat always all black, and white neck-collar often lacking.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Inhabits scrub; also forest-edge thickets, weedy fields and roadsides. In Honduras roosted nightly in tall stands of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) (2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close ). Occurs from sea-level up to c. 1500 m, locally higher (3 Vallely, A.C. and Dyer, D. (2018). Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford. Close ).

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Inhabits scrub, forest-edge thickets, damp grassland, weedy fields, gardens and roadsides. May roost in tall stands of grass. Occurs from sea-level up to c. 1500 m.

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Resident, with some local movements.

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Feeds primarily on seeds, with some berries, and a few insects. Usually forages for grass seeds while on the stem; typically, alights on stem and bends it down to the ground, allowing easier access to seeds. May also forage on ground. In pairs and small groups; often with other seedeaters.

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Feeds primarily on seeds (Zexmenia, Heliocarpus, Cecropia, Solanum, Paspalum, Amaranthus, Panicum, Spoarbolus, Carex, and Chaetochloa), also on berries, and insects (2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close , 4 Wetmore, A., R. F. Pasquier, and S. L. Olson (1984) The birds of the Republic of Panamá. Part 4. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 150, Part 4. Close ). Young fed primarily with grass seeds. Usually forages for grass seeds while on the stem; typically, alights on stem and bends it down to the ground, allowing easier access to seeds. May also forage on ground. In pairs and small groups; often with other seedeaters.

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Song a prolonged siskin-like warble  , accelerating from breezy start into a complex jumble of notes. Call a nasal “chiyh” or “chiih” (5 Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb (1995). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA. Close ), with a “seeyp”, “tseeyp” and “tsiwee” described from W Panama (6 Eisenmann, E. (1957). Notes on birds of the province of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Condor 59: 247-262. Close ).

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Song of nominate in NW Ecuador  a sweet slurred warble ending in a buzzy “tzzjirrrt!”. Song of hybrid “aurita” a prolonged warble, accelerating from breezy start into a jumble of notes, a sweet, rapid, buzzy “tsiwee tsiwee tsiwee, chee chee chee, twee tweet wee twee, chirr chirr chirr chirr” (6 Eisenmann, E. (1957). Notes on birds of the province of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Condor 59: 247-262. Close ). Call a descending "tew" (7 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close , 8 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), a “chiwee” or “tsiwee”, or harsher “chur”.

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Eggs found in Mar in NW Panama (Bocas del Toro) (4 Wetmore, A., R. F. Pasquier, and S. L. Olson (1984) The birds of the Republic of Panamá. Part 4. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 150, Part 4. Close ) and Nicaragua, but more typically Apr–Sept (2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close ); timing may be dependent on rainfall to produce grass growth and an abundance of grass seeds, and in NE Costa Rica is believed to occur between Apr and Aug and Nov to Feb. Nest a deep, loosely woven cup (75 mm × 75 mm externally and 45 mm deep internally) composed of fine grasses, rootlets, tendrils and fibers, placed 0·5–5 m above ground in tree, bush or clump of grass. Clutch two eggs, rarely three, greyish white with fuscous and blackish-brown spots, size 17·6–17·7 mm × 13–13·1 mm (n = 2); incubation by female, period c. 12 days; fledging after 12 days (2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close ).

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Season May–Oct (usually Jul and Aug) in C Panama (Canal Zone); timing varies from year to year, depending on rainfall, as the species waits for rain to spur grass growth. Nest built by female, a thin-walled cup, placed 0·8–6 m (rarely 9 m) above ground in fork of branch of tree or shrub, woven into branches for support (9 Gross, A.O. (1952). Nesting of Hicks’ Seedeater at Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone. Auk 69: 433-446. Close , 2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close ). Clutch two eggs, rarely three, pale greyish with darker grey and brown blotching, this often concentrated at wide end; incubation by female, period c. 12 days (9 Gross, A.O. (1952). Nesting of Hicks’ Seedeater at Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone. Auk 69: 433-446. Close ); fledging after 12–13 days (2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close ).

Variable Seedeater (Black)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Fairly common to common in most of range; common to abundant in Costa Rica; less common in Honduras and Guatemala (2 Skutch, A.F. (1954). Life Histories of Central American Birds. Part 1. Families Fringillidae, Thraupidae, Icteridae, Parulidae and Coerebidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna 31. Cooper Ornithological Society, Berkely, California. 448 pp. Close ); and very uncommon at N extreme of range in Oaxaca, Mexico (10 Binford, L. C. (1989). A Distributional Survey of the Birds of the Mexican State of Oaxaca. Ornithological Monographs 43. American Ornithologists’ Union. Washington, DC, USA. Close ). Has large range, and no evidence of any large-scale declines in population.

Variable Seedeater (Variable)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Fairly common to common in most of range; common to abundant in many parts. Has large range, and no evidence of any no large-scale declines in population.