Birds of Venezuela - Sporophila


Wing-barred Seedeater (Sporophila americana murallae) Male Puerto Nariño, Amazonas, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Wing-barred Seedeater (Sporophila americana murallae) Female Puerto Nariño, Amazonas, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch (Sporophila angolensis) Male Villavicencio, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch (Sporophila angolensis torrida) Female Villavicencio, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Once considered the same species at the all black Thick-billed Seed Finch. HBW writes there is some hybridization in the Madgalena Valley of Colombia.


Lesson's Seedeater (Sporophila bouvronides) Male Venezuela Note top of head is black.
Photograph by Barlovento from Venezuela Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.


Lesson's Seedeater (Sporophila bouvronides) Female Venezuela
Photograph by Barlovento from Venezuela Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Compare to Lined Seedeater, but note black crown. Found in marshes and grassland.


Chestnut-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila castaneiventris) Male Wildsumaco Lodge, Sumaco, Ecuador
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Chestnut-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila castaneiventris) Female Inírida, Guainía, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Large-billed Seed Finch (Sporophila crassirostris) Male Ecuador
Photograph by Brendan Ryan Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


Large-billed Seed Finch (Sporophila crassirostris) Female Cocorna, Antioquia, Colombia The male is black with a light-colored bill. Female is similar to Thick-billed Seed Finch (ID of this photo not certain).
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Very rare and unreliable.


White-naped Seedeater (Sporophila fringilloides) Mitu, Vaupes, Colombia
Photograph by Manakin Nature Tours - Luis Urueña © All Rights Reserved.


Grey Seedeater (Sporophila intermedia intermedia) Male Copacabana, Antioquia, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Grey Seedeater (Sporophila intermedia bogotensis) Female Laguna Sonso, Buga, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Lined Seedeater (Sporophila lineola) Male REGUA, Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ, Brazil
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Lined Seedeater (Sporophila lineola) Female San Martín de Amacayacu, Amazonas, Colombia Showing hints of the male coloration, as do many female seedeaters.
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Moves seasonally to northwest Amazon perhaps to eat grass seeds during the low water season. Compare to Lesson's Seedeater but note white crown; females identical.


Black-and-white Seedeater (Sporophila luctuosa) Male Recinto del Pensamiento, Manizales, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Black-and-white Seedeater (Sporophila luctuosa) Female Butterfly World, Florida, USA
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Found in the Andes at mid altitude levels in semi-open areas. Locally common at best.


Great-billed Seed Finch (Sporophila maximiliani) Male Endangered Mato Grosso, Brazil
Photograph by Hector Bottai Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License (cc-by-sa-2.0). In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it under this or a similar cc-by-sa license.


Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila minuta minuta) Male Puerto Boyacá, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila minuta parva) Female Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

As seen from the latin name minutus, a tiny seedeater that favors grass seeds.
Eating grass seeds


Yellow-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis nigricollis) Male Recinto del Pensamiento, Manizales, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Yellow-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis nigricollis) Female Otún Quimbaya Wildlife Sanctuary, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Plumbeous Seedeater (Sporophila plumbea whiteleyana) Male French Guiana
Photograph by Michel GIRAUD-AUDINE © All Rights Reserved.


Plumbeous Seedeater (Sporophila plumbea whiteleyana) Female El Oso, Bolivar, Venezuela
Photograph by Fernando Flores Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

Note dark bill compared to similar species.


Slate-colored Seedeater (Sporophila schistacea schistacea) Male Jaco, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Photograph by Jorge Obando Gutierrez © Copyrighted, All Rights Reserved.


Slate-colored Seedeater (Sporophila schistacea longipennis) Female Zafra Reserva Natural, Antioquia, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Note white eye-ring compared to very similar Grey Seedeater. Generally a lowland species. Not reliable (wanders), but often found in flocks at bamboo when seeds are present (HBW). Note smaller bill with more curved culmen than Grey Seedeater (hard to be sure about).
Female eating bamboo seed.