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Golden-sided Euphonia Euphonia cayennensis Scientific name definitions

Steven Hilty
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2011

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

This fairly common euphonia is found in the canopy and at borders of humid forest from southeast Venezuela south and east to central Amazonia and the coast of northeast Brazil, where it is principally confined to altitudes below 600 m. The male is entirely steel blue, except for the golden pectoral patch, whereas the female is olive above, with a grayish nape, and becoming slightly more yellowish over the throat, breast, and flanks, with olive-gray central underparts. Given both sexes similar morphology to the allopatric Chestnut-bellied Euphonia (Euphonia pectoralis), and the fact that the two species share many common behavioral and vocal aspects, it is probable that they form a superspecies.

Field Identification

11 cm; 11·8–16 g. Smallish, relatively short-tailed, stout-billed euphonia, male distinctive with almost wholly dark plumage. Male is entirely dark glossy steel-blue above and below, including wing-coverts and entire underparts; flight-feathers and tail dusky, edged and tinged dark steel-blue; long golden-yellow feathers of pectoral patch usually protrude conspicuously in front of and below bend of wing; iris dark brown; upper mandible blackish, with blue-grey along basal half, lower mandible blue-grey with blackish tip; legs dark grey. Female has forehead tinged yellowish, otherwise crown and entire upperparts olive; underparts, including belly and undertail-coverts, almost entirely grey, with olive-yellow on sides and flanks. Juvenile undescribed.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

SE Venezuela (E Bolívar), the Guianas, and NE Brazil from Manaus E (on both sides of R Amazon) to Pará and N Maranhão.

Habitat

Occurs in canopy of humid lowland forest and forest borders, in some areas also in scrubbier, drier, and lower-canopied patches of savanna forest, as well as second growth. Found in lowlands up to c. 600 m, locally up to 1100 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Food is not well documented; mostly small berries and fruit, and probably some insects. Two stomachs contained only berries. Often encountered singly or in pairs, much less frequently in small groups; wanders alone or sometimes associates with other euphonia species or mixed-species flocks in canopy or upper levels of rainforest. Sometimes comes quite low to small fruiting shrubs along forest borders. Often wags or twitches its tail to one side, or from side to side in mechanical fashion. Not regularly seen around mistletoe (Loranthaceae), but does take eat mistletoe berries on occasion.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Call a low, coarse, gravelly “j’a’a’a’a” repeated 2–6 times, sometimes quickly; almost identical to that of E. rufiventris. Also gives longer, faster, and buzzy rattle, “bjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj”, c. 2 seconds, and a higher, softer and nasal “ruee-e-et”, run together and rather like that of several other members of genus. A possible duet consisting of a short flat whistle and series of short “tu” notes, along with burry notes in random order, has been reported.

Breeding

Breeding recorded in Nov in Brazil (Pará). Nest in Brazil rounded or covered and with side entrance, much like those of congeners, made from moss and root fibres, lined with fine vegetable fibres, placed 1 m up; two reported cases of use of abandoned tyrant-flycatcher (Tyrannidae) nest, one a nest of Ochre-bellied Flycatcher (Mionectes oleagineus) located inside forest, the other of a Myiozetetes species c. 1 m up in fruit tree in second growth. Clutch 3–5 eggs, whitish with a few red spots; female observed to be incubating in the Myiozetetes nest. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Uncommon to fairly common; in most areas present at low density. Occurs in several large protected areas, including Canaima National Park (Venezuela), Kaieteur National Park and Iwokrama Forest Reserve (Guyana), Brownberg Nature Park and Raleighvallen/Voltsberg Nature Reserve (Suriname); Guyana Amazonian Park (French Guiana), and Montanhas do Tumucumaque National Park (Brazil). In addition, the species’ range includes large amounts of intact unprotected forest that is at little immediate risk.
Distribution of the Golden-sided Euphonia - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Golden-sided Euphonia

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Hilty, S. (2020). Golden-sided Euphonia (Euphonia cayennensis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.goseup1.01
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