White-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila leucoptera)

Identification & Behavior: ~12.5 cm (5 in). The male White-bellied Seedeater has bluish-gray upperparts and white underparts. It has a conspicuous white wing speculum and dull orange bill. The female is a rich brown with a dusky bill.  It forages in shrubbery bordering bodies of water, fallow agricultural fields, and hedges. Its large size, plumage pattern, and bill color are diagnostic but see Double-collared Seedeater. Female Sporophila seedeaters are readily identified by the males that accompany them.

Status: The White-bellied Seedeater is known in Peru from only and handful of sight records in Madre de Dios. It is an Austral “vagrant” to southeast Peru expected during the months of May through November. It also occurs in Br and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Espiguero de Vientre Blanco.

Sub-species: White-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila leucoptera bicolor), (d’Orbigny and Lafresnaye), 1837.

Meaning of Name: Sporophila: Gr. sporos= seed and philos= lover. leucoptera: Gr. leukos= white, pteros, pteron= wing, winged.

See more of the Family Thraupidae