Family Tanagers (Thraupidae)
Least Concern
Black-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila ophthalmica)
Taxonomy
French: Sporophile variable German: Weißhalsspelzer Spanish: Semillero pechinegro
Taxonomy:
Spermophila ophthalmica
P. L. Sclater
, 1860,Babahoyo, Los Ríos, Ecuador
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Subspecies and Distribution
S. o. hoffmanni
Cabanis, 1861 – Pacific slope of Costa Rica and extreme W Panama.
S. o. hicksii
(Lawrence, 1865) – Panama (except extreme W Pacific slope and Bocas del Toro) E through both slopes to W Colombia (Córdoba S to Cauca).
S. o. ophthalmica
(P. L. Sclater, 1860) – lowlands W of Andes from SW Colombia (Nariño) S to NW Peru (La Libertad).
Descriptive notes
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... read more
Voice
Song of nominate in NW Ecuador a sweet slurred warble ending in a buzzy “tzzjirrrt!”. Song of... read more
Habitat
Inhabits scrub, forest-edge thickets, damp grassland, weedy fields, gardens and roadsides. May... read more
Food and feeding
Feeds primarily on seeds (Zexmenia, Heliocarpus, Cecropia, Solanum, Paspalum, Amaranthus... read more
Breeding
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... read more
Movements
Resident, with some local movements.
Status and conservation
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... read more
Hitherto treated as conspecific with S. corvina (and formerly with S. americana) under the name “Variable Seedeater”, but separated here on account of its black-and-white vs all-black plumage in male (4); notably paler overall ochre-brown plumage in female, with paler area on central belly (1); reportedly more musical song, “aurita” being described as “a much better, sweeter singer than the Caribbean corvina”#R (allow 2); narrow hybrid zone near Canal Zone of Panama involving race hicksii, resulting in hybrids to which the name “aurita” applies (2); and possible habitat difference, frequenting “dense thickety stands along the edge of woodland” vs “largely in the open and semi-open”#R (ns). From Colombia, proposed race anchicayae (described from R Anchicayá, in Valle) is a hybrid between race hicksii of present species and race bogotensis of S. intermedia, and chocoana (from Nuquí, in Chocó) is considered inseparable from hicksii. Three subspecies recognized.