Order: Passeriformes | Family: Thraupidae | IUCN Status: Least Concern
Age: Adult | Sex: Males | Loc. Southwest Ecuador
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Southwest Ecuador
Age: Adult | Sex: Males | Loc. Southwest Ecuador
Age: Adult | Sex: Female | Loc. Northwest Peru
Identification & Behavior: ~11.5 cm (4.5 in). The male Variable Seedeater has black upperparts and head. The throat, sides of the neck, and rest of the underparts are white. It has a black pectoral band, white rump, and white wing speculum. The female is warm olive-brown with a black bill. It forages in the shrubbery of forest edges, mixed grassland, as well as edges of agricultural land. It does not overlap with the very similar Caqueta Seedeater. Generally, female Sporophila seedeaters are readily identified by the males that accompany them.
Status: The Variable Seedeater is fairly common on the northwest lowlands and foothills to elevations of up to 700 m. It also occurs in Co and Ec.
Name in Spanish: Espiguero Variable.
Sub-species: Variable Seedeater (Sporophila corvina ophthalmica), (P. L. Sclater), 1860.
Meaning of Name: Sporophila: Gr. sporos= seed and philos= lover. corvina: L. corvus= raven, corvinus= raven-like.
See more of the Family Thraupidae 
Distribution Map
Voice
VoiceReferences:
-
- Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo). The Field Museum. http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 03/01/2016.