Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow
Melozone cabanisi
Rather local large sparrow of foothills and highlands in central Costa Rica. Found in brushy woodland and edge and overgrown clearings; usually on or near the ground and often in pairs. Like other ground-sparrows, spends most of its time skulking in shady and often dense cover. Large black spot in middle of chest. Head pattern is distinctive: rusty cap, black forehead and cheek wrapping around a white face with a beady dark eye.
Identification
It is on average 15 cm long and weighs 28 g. The adult has a stubby dark-grey bill, unstreaked olive-brown upperparts, a rufous crown and mainly white underparts. Young birds are browner above, have yellower underparts, and a duller indistinct head pattern. The rufous of the crown extends to behind the eye and is bordered on its anterior edge with black. This black border is broken by a white eye ring. The forehead is white, bordered below with a thin black line; there is a black malar stripe, and a black central breast patch.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Melozone cabanisi
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1868)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Passerellidae
- Genus
- Melozone
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Northern Pied-Babbler
Turdoides hypoleuca
A boldly marked babbler with gray-brown upperparts and mostly white underparts. Also note the pale eye and variable gray-brown blotching on the sides and on the breast. Found in woodland, thickets, and lush scrub, almost always in small groups which forage by hopping across the ground. Similar in shape and size to other babblers, but easily separated by the strikingly light-and-dark plumage. Nasal babbling call is frequently given, usually by a whole group in chorus.
Pale-headed Munia
Lonchura pallida
A small finch with a striking white head and dark body. Rich chestnut brown above, with reddish tail and pale peach-washed underside. Juveniles much duller and browner, but usually show a paler head. Gregarious, found in terrestrial flocks, often with other finches, in open country such as marshes, croplands, grasslands and scrub, in the lowlands. Juvenile has a paler head and a noticeably smaller bill than juvenile Five-colored Munia. Gives weak, high-pitched “weee” and stronger, metallic “wit-wit-wit” notes.
Northern Red Bishop
Euplectes franciscanus
A very small gregarious species of open habitats including agricultural areas and the edges of marshes; often found in flocks of tens to hundreds. Note the black face and crown, brown wings, and long reddish orange uppertail coverts (concealing black tail) of breeding male. Nonbreeding males and females distinguished from similar Black-winged Bishop by smaller size and bill and told from Yellow-crowned Bishop by buffier coloration and more limited streaking on chest. Song is a rapid jumble of squeaky, twittering, and churring notes. Its calls include a sharp “tsit” and “tzit.”
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