Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
Sporophila minuta
Very small, finchlike bird of grassy and weedy areas in tropical lowlands, especially in marshy areas. Often in flocks, mixing readily with slightly larger White-collared Seedeater. Breeding male (only in spring–summer) is striking: slaty bluish above and rusty below with a rusty rump. Nonbreeding male, female, and immature are much plainer: buffy brown overall, paler below, with distinct paler wing edgings (unlike plain-winged White-collared Seedeaters in west Mexico), and distinct orangey tones to the bill (bill dusky on White-collared).
Taxonomy
The ruddy-breasted seedeater was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia minuta. The specific epithet is from Latin minutus meaning "little" or "small". The type locality is Suriname. The ruddy-breasted seedeater is now placed in the genus Sporophila that was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1844.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Sporophila minuta
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Sporophila
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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