The Cabanis's seedeater (''Amaurospiza concolor'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of bird in the cardinal

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cardinalidae that the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC) accepted as a species in 2015. (But see the taxonomy section below.) It is found southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Taxonomy and systematics

In 2015 the IOC split the subspecies ''Amaurospiza concolor aequatorialis'' from the blue seedeater (''Amaurospiza concolor'' sensu lato) as the Ecuadorean seedeater (''Amaurospiza aequatorialis'') and renamed ''A. concolor'' Cabanis's seedeater. The decision was based on a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study published in 2014. However, the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(AOS) had previously rejected the split, and as of May 2021 the AOS North American Committee has not considered it and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

has not adopted it.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 19 January 2021Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved 15 August 2019 Confusingly, BirdLife International uses the scientific name ''A. moesta'' for blue seedeater, but the IOC, AOS, and Clements assign that

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms * Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials *Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition ...

to blackish-blue seedeater. The BirdLife account encompasses what are now Cabanis's, Ecuadorian, and blackish-blue seedeaters. Cabanis's seedeater as defined by the IOC has two subspecies, the nominate ''Amaurospiza concolor concolor'' and ''A. c. relicta''.

Description

Cabanis's seedeater is long and weighs . The nominate male is entirely slate blue. The female's upperparts are cinnamon and the underparts tawny. The male ''A. c. relicta'' is more slaty (less blue) than the nominate and has black lores; the female is a paler cinnamon.Ramos-Ordoñez, M. F., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, C. A. Soberanes-González, M. d. C. Arizmendi, A. Jaramillo, and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Blue Seedeater (''Amaurospiza concolor''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blusee1.01 retrieved 16 May 2021

Distribution and habitat

The nominate Cabanis's seedeater is found from

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

in southern Mexico through Central America to western and central Panama. ''A. c. relicta'' is found in six southwestern Mexico states,

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

, Colima,

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, Guerrero and

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

. The species inhabits openings in and edges of humid montane and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

. It most often is found at sites with bamboo. In northern Central America it ranges in elevation from but in Costa Rica inhabits the narrower range of .

Behavior

Feeding

Cabanis's seedeater's diet includes insects, seeds, and bamboo shoots.

Breeding

The only known Cabanis's seedeater nest was found in Mexico. It was a cup of coarse grass lined with finer grass placed in the fork of a slender branch. It contained two seedeater eggs and one of the

brood parasite Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

bronzed cowbird (''Molothrus aeneus'').

Vocalization

Cabanis's seedeater's songs and calls have been transcribed in several ways. A song from Chiapas, Mexico, i

One from Panama i

A call from Puebla, Mexico, i

and one from Panama i

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has not assessed Cabanis's seedeater.

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of Cabanis's seedeater
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1591459 Cabanis's seedeater Birds of Guatemala Birds of El Salvador Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Cabanis's seedeater Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN