Thick-billed Seed-finch (Sporophila funerea)

Identification & Behavior: ~12 cm (5 in). Thick-billed Seed-Finch males are all black. Their bill is also black and disproportionately thick. The flight feathers have a white base that forms a white band when the bird extends its wings. The white in the wings can be seen as a small speculum when perched with the wings folded. Females are rich-brown and have a similar thick black bill. The female lacks the white at the base of the wing feathers. A Thick-billed Seed-Finch prefers tall grass along rivers, overgrown fallow fields, and scrub. Black-billed Seed-Finch males and females are very similar, but their ranges are separated by the Andes.

Status: The Thick-billed Seed-Finch is known from a male and female mist-netted during a bird survey in the Campo Verde area of Parque Nacional Cerros de Amotape in extreme Northwest Peru. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Semillero de Pico Negro.

Sub-species: Thick-billed Seed-Finch (Sporophila funerea), (Sclater, PL, 1860).

Meaning of Name: Sporophila: Gr. sporos= seed and philos= lover. funerea: L. funus, funaris, funeral; words that relate to a funeral scene where people wear black clothing and mourn.

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