Rose-bellied Bunting
Passerina rositae
Beautiful bunting found very locally in foothills on Pacific slope of southern Mexico; endemic. Occurs in brushy woodland and edge, often in canyons with permanent water. Found singly or in small groups feeding mainly in seeding grasses and at all levels in fruiting trees and bushes. Male unmistakable: electric blue and rose-pink with a broken white eyering. Female much drabber but has broken white eyering and variable pink blush to underparts.
Identification
The rose-bellied bunting is 13.5 to 14.5 cm (5.3 to 5.7 in) long and weighs 19.5 to 20.5 g (0.69 to 0.72 oz). The adult male's crown is purplish-blue, and it is electric blue on the rest of its upperparts that fades from darker to lighter towards the tail. Its chin is grayish, the throat and chest blue, and the belly and vent area salmon pink. The adult female's head and upperparts are gray-brown with a bluish tinge at the rump. Its undersides are pinkish buff, warmer on the throat becoming paler towards the lower belly.
Taxonomy
The rose-bellied bunting is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Passerina rositae
- Authority
- (Lawrence, 1874)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cardinalidae
- Genus
- Passerina
Range and habitat
The rose-bellied bunting's core range is a narrow strip along the Pacific slope of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca and western Chiapas. There is one additional record further east in Chiapas, in El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve. It inhabits arid to semiarid thorn forest, moister gallery forest, and swamp forest. In elevation it ranges from 180 to 800 m (590 to 2,620 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The rose-bellied bunting forages alone or in pairs in the lower to mid-level of its habitat. Its diet consists of seeding grasses and fruit from trees and bushes.<p>Two rose-bellied bunting nests have been described. One found in late July had freshly laid eggs, the other had eggs well along in incubation in late June. The nests were open cups of dead leaves and bark lined with finer material; they were placed in crotches of small saplings. One clutch had three eggs and the other four. No other information about the species' breeding phenology has been published.<p>The rose-bellied bunting's song is "a sweet, slightly burry warble" [1]. Its call is "a wet 'plik' or 'plek'" [2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Spectacular, huge, and long-tailed parrot, wiped out from most areas by capture for the pet trade; attempts at reintroduction are taking place in some protected areas. Found very locally in lowland rainforest and adjacent semiopen areas with big trees; usually in pairs. Unmistakable, bright scarlet red overall with big yellow wing patches and mostly blue wings and rump. Calls are deep, throaty roars that carry long distances.
Bar-winged Weaver
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A localized woodland weaver that has dark brown upperparts, yellow back and rump, obvious white wing bars, and pale underparts suffused with lemon on the belly and flanks. Juvenile is like adult but with a pale crown and bill. Restricted to mature evergreen (Cryptosepalum) dry forests and Miombo woodland where ‘Old Man’s Beard’ Usnea lichen is abundant; singles and pairs sometimes join mixed-species flocks and forage secretively for insects by creeping along branches like a nuthatch or creeper; does not nest colonially. Not very vocal, but occasionally calls a series of high-pitched squeaks, buzzes, and churrs.
Pale-billed Sicklebill
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A large, long-billed bird of lowland forest. Brown upperparts with black head and grayish facial skin behind the eye. Note the curved, pale bill. Male has a black throat, sides and two small, hornlike tufts on the head. Female has pale underparts with dark barring. Similar to female Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise and Magnificent Riflebird, but female Pale-billed Sicklebill has a longer, thinner, more curved bill. One of several vocalizations, a descending series of low whistles, reminiscent of Common Potoo.
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