Thick-billed Euphonia (Euphonia laniirostris)

Identification & Behavior: ~11 cm (4.3 in). The male Thick-billed Euphonia is glossy blue above. The throat and rest of the underparts are yellow-orange. The win in the male is dusky with a broad middle band. The tail feathers have extensive white webbing.  The female is olive-yellow above and dull yellow-orange below without gray on the underparts. The male Thick-billed Euphonia is distinguished from other euphonias by having an orange-yellow throat. Also see, Purple-throated Euphonia, Orange-bellied Euphonia, and Orange-crowned Euphonia.

Status: The Thick-billed Euphonia is widespread and fairly common in a variety of habitats ranging from humid Amazonian forest to deciduous forest and scrub in the northwest in Tumbes. It is known to occur at elevations of up to 1200 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Eufonia de Pico Grueso.

Sub-species: Thick-billed Euphonia (Euphonia laniirostris melanura), P. L. Sclater, 1851. E Colombia S through E Ecuador and E Peru (S to San Martín and N Ucayali), and C Brazil (Acre and generally E across Amazon Basin S of R Amazon to W Pará).
(Euphonia laniirostris hypoxantha), Berlepsch and Taczanowski, 1884. Pacific coast of Ecuador S to NW Peru (S Cajamarca).
(Euphonia laniirostris zopholega), (Oberholser), 1918. EC Peru (Junín and Cuzco).
(Euphonia laniirostris laniirostris), d’Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837. SE Peru and N Bolivia E to C Brazil (SE Amazonas and C Mato Grosso).

Meaning of Name: Euphonia: Gr. eu= good and phōnē=  voice. Euphōnia= goodness of voice, excellence of tone. laniirostris: Genus Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, shrike and rostris, rostrum= billed, beak.

See more of the Family Fringillidae