Blue black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina)

[order] Passeriformes | [family] Emberizidae | [latin] Volatinia jacarina | [UK] Blue-black Grassquit | [FR] Jacarini noir | [DE] Jacarini | [ES] Negrito Chirri | [IT] Fringuello Negrillo | [NL] Jacarina-grasgors

Subspecies

Physical charateristics

The male are distinguished from the brownish females and juveniles by their glossy black plumage and white underwings. The male has a concealed white spot at the juncture of the wing and body that can be seen in display flights. Females have greyish brown upperparts and pale beige below. Their throat and breast are steaked greyish brown. The iris is dark brown. The upper mandible is black, while the lower mandible is bluish grey. Feet are grey. During the breeding season males can be seen calling from a perch then suddenly jumping straight up in the air and back down again while showing off its white underwings. It can jump about 10 times per minute. It is quite gregarious, and forms communal evening roosts.

Listen to the sound of Blue-black Grassquit

[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/B/Blue-black Grassquit.mp3]

Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto

Range

It occurs from Mexico and Central America southward through Brazil to Chile and Argentina.

Habitat

It inhabits forest edges, woodland, wet grassland, and cultivated area. They are also found around tangles of weeds and vines, cropped pastures, sugar cane, lava flows, tule marshes, mimosa thickets, pine woods, and even in the cloud forest. The greatest concentrations occur in open country grown extensively with bunch grass and mimosa brush.

Reproduction

Both sexes incubate for 9?10 days, with about the same period again for the young to fledge.

Feeding habits

They are basically small seed-eaters, but they also often feed on small insects. The type of seeds eaten depend on what plant species are available

Conservation

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 15,000,000 km². The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as ‘common’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migration

In the southeastern and southern areas of the country, it disappears during the winter, migrating to warmer areas.

Distribution map

Literature

Title Complex communication signals: the case
of the Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina
(Aves, Emberizidae) song. Part I – A structural analysis

Author(s): HERNÁN FANDIÑO-MARINO and JACQUES M.E. VIELLIARD

Abstract: The song of the Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jac..[more]..

Source: An Acad Bras Cienc (2004) 76 (2)