- Sporophila morellleti
Identification
Typical overall appearance of a seedeater. The breeding male is easily identified in its range, with a dark head and back, a single while collar above a black breast band, stubby dark bill with curved culmen, buffy belly, short tail and double white wingbars. The male outside breeding keeps the blackish wings with wing bars and has crown still mottled with dark, but is otherwise similar to female. The female is overall a drab light brown.
Variation
The black bib/breast band and the white collar in the male varies between weak in subspecies sharpei and much stronger in e.g., moreletti[2]. The second has underparts white to pale buff.
Similar Species
Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater of West Mexico is similar but lacks wing-bars.
Distribution
North America and Central America
Eastern Mexico and the far southern Rio Grande Valley in Texas; additionally along the Caribbean slope south to western Panama.
Taxonomy
The former White-collared Seedeater has been split into this species and the Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater.
Subspecies
This is a polytypic species consisting of two subspecies[1]:
- S. m. sharpei:
- S. m. morelleti:
Proposed subspecies S. m. mutanda considered a synonym of nominate.
Habitat
Grassy and weedy areas near cane.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes seeds.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Birdforum thread discussing id of White-collared Seedeater
- Adel, F., K. J. Burns, J. C. Eitniear, and T. S. Schulenberg (2010). Morelet's/Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater (Sporophila morelleti/torqueola), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.whcsee.01
- Eitniear, J. C. (2018). Morelet's Seedeater (Sporophila morelleti), version 1.2. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.whcsee1.01.2
- del Hoyo, J. & Collar, N. (2018). White-collared Seedeater (Sporophila morelleti). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/1344179 on 22 November 2018).
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Morelet's Seedeater. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 September 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Morelet%27s_Seedeater