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

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: stable.

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

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