#cabanis's ground-sparrow

[birdstudies]

December 21, 2023 - Costa Rican Ground-Sparrow or Cabanis's Ground-Sparrow (Melozone cabanisi) Found only in central Costa Rica, these New World sparrows live in lowland and mountain forests, woodlands, coffee plantations, and thickets. Foraging on or near the ground alone or in pairs, they feed on seeds and insects, though the details of their diet are unknown. They build cup-shaped nests from grass, rootlets, stems, dry leaves, and horse hair in grass tussocks, hollows, or bushes. Females lay clutches of two or three eggs. Classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, their population is declining slowly due to residential and commercial development in their small range.

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Cabanis's Ground Sparrow

Photo: Forest Botial-Jarvis

"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."

- eBird

[alonglistofbirds]

[1979/10977] Cabanis's ground sparrow - Melozone cabanisi

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Passeri Superfamily: Emberizoidea Family: Passerellidae (new world sparrows)

Photo credit: Guillermo Saborío Vega via Macaulay Library

[justsomehibird]

bird every name. Didn't think so sweatie

Caatinga antwren

Caatinga cacholote

Caatinga parakeet

Caatinga puffbird

Cabanis's bunting

Cabanis's greenbul

Cabanis's ground sparrow

Cabanis's seedeater

Cabanis's spinetail

Cabanis's wren

Cabot's tern

Cabot's tragopan

Cachar bulbul

Cachar wedge-billed babbler

Cackling goose

Cactus canastero

Cactus wren

Caica parrot

Calandra lark

Calayan rail

California condor

California gnatcatcher

California gull

California quail

California scrub jay

California thrasher

California towhee

Calliope hummingbird

Cambodian laughingthrush

Cambodian tailorbird

Cameroon greenbul

Cameroon indigobird

Cameroon olive greenbul

Cameroon olive pigeon

Cameroon sunbird

Camiguin hanging parrot

Camiguin hawk-owl

Campbell albatross

Campbell shag

Campbell teal

Campbell's fairywren

Campina thrush

Campo flicker

Campo miner

Campo troupial

Canada goose

Canada jay

Canada warbler

Canary flyrobin

Canary Islands chiffchaff

Canary Islands oystercatcher

Canary Islands stonechat

Canary white-eye

Canebrake groundcreeper

Canebrake wren

Canivet's emerald

Canvasback

Canyon canastero

Canyon towhee

Canyon wren

Cape Barren goose

Cape batis

Cape bulbul

Cape bunting

Cape canary

Cape clapper lark

Cape cormorant

Cape crow

Cape eagle-owl

Cape gannet

Cape grassbird

Cape long-billed lark

Cape longclaw

Cape May warbler

Cape parrot

Cape penduline tit

Cape petrel

Cape robin-chat

Cape rock thrush

Cape rockjumper

Cape shoveler

Cape siskin

Cape sparrow

Cape spurfowl

Cape starling

Cape sugarbird

Cape teal

Cape Verde buzzard

Cape Verde shearwater

Cape Verde storm petrel

Cape Verde swift

Cape Verde warbler

Cape vulture

Cape wagtail

Cape weaver

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Rhodopechys

African Crimson-Winged Finch by Gary L. Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0 

Etymology: Pink-Armed

First Described By: Cabanis, 1851

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Australaves, Eufalconimorphae, Psittacopasserae, Passeriformes, Eupasseres, Passeri, Euoscines, Passerides, Core Passerides, Passerida, Passerid Clade, Fringillidae, Carduelinae  

Referred Species: R. sanguineus (Asian Crimson-Winged Finch), R. alienus (African Crimson-Winged Finch

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Within the last 10,000 years, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

These birds are known from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) 

Physical Description: These finches are mostly similar in appearance, and very distinctive birds to boot. They have yellowish-brown feathers along their sides, with white outlines on them. These feathers darken around their cheeks, giving them noticeable cheek patches. The males have black patches on the tops of their heads, while the females are more dark grey. The males also have little red spots at the fronts of their eyes, which the females do not have. Like in other finches, they have large, triangular beaks. Their backs are dark brown-grey, and their wings start off brown before transitioning into red and black patterns on the males, and pink and black patterns on the females. Their tales are black, and they have white patterning on their chests and bellies. These birds also have short tails and brown feet. They range between 15 and 18 centimeters in length, making them large as far as finches go.

Diet: These finches mainly eat small seeds, some grass buds, other plants, and the occasional insect. 

Asian Crimson-Winged Finch by Francesco Veronesi, CC BY-SA 2.0 

Behavior: The Crimson-Winged Finches forage on the ground, perching on rocks and bushes before hopping to the ground to grab food. They look very distinctive as they walk, with a characteristic waddle. They’ll pull down grasses to reach the seeds and even stand on the grass stem to get their food. They usually forage alone or in mated pairs, though they do join up in large flocks of up to hundreds of individuals when not in the breeding season - these flocks may even be inter-species. They do move from higher altitudes to lower ones depending on the season, and do migrate over short distances depending on the season. In general, though, they stay within their home range, especially the African species. 

African Crimson-Winged Finch by Gary L. Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0 

These birds make a very clear, soft, melodious “tchwili-tchwilichip” call during May through September. They also make undulated songs in flight throughout the year. They make harsh chirps in flight to call to each other, as well as more musical “wee-tll-ee” calls in bushes. These calls are often reminiscent of sparrows and woodlarks. Their breeding season starts in April and goes through to mid-July, though the African species starts a little later than the Asian species. The males display for the females by undulating and circling around the female, making a song as they do so, and then flying and descending down in a glide. They also will chase the female over low ground. The female then builds the nest out of a loose cup of dry grasses and plant stems, usually placed on stony ground. The bird lays four to five blue eggs with brown spots and incubates them for two weeks. Both parents proceed to feed the chicks for another two weeks within the nest. The family then stays together for three more weeks, before the chicks leave their parents and the parents split up; all members will then join large flocks for the non-breeding season. 

Asian Crimson-Winged FInch by Imran Shah, CC BY-SA 2.0 

Ecosystem: The Crimson-Winged Finches live in open semi-desert areas, in sandy planes, volcano craters, boulderfields, and occasional mountain slopes. They especially enjoy scrubland with sparse grss and scattered herbs.

Other: These birds are not globally threatened, and though they can be scarce in some regions, they are very abundant in others. The two species were actually separated out from each other fairly recently, so these data may be modified in the future.

Species Differences: These two species mainly differ based on range, with the African Crimson-Winged Finch being found in Morocco, and the Asian Crimson-Winged Finch found in Eurasia. The African species also has less vibrant red patches on their faces, grey backs of their necks, and it has reduced red coloration on its wings as well.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

del Hoyo, J. & Collar, N. (2019). African Crimson-winged Finch (Rhodopechys alienus). 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.

Clement, P. (2019). Eurasian Crimson-winged Finch (Rhodopechys sanguineus). 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.

Jobling, J. A. 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Christopher Helm Publishing, A&C Black Publishers Ltd, London.

[na-bird-of-the-day]

Hello! Hope your doing great! If you're still taking requests, I have some Costa Rican birds for you (: (I checked and I don't think you've done any of them yet, but I may have missed something):

Cocos Cuckoo

Coppery-headed Emerald

Mangrove Hummingbird

Cocos Flycatcher

Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager

Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow

Cocos Finch

And our national bird which I think is common in other countries: the clay-colored thrush.

Thank you for reading this! Have a nice day!

Thank you for the suggestions! All have been posted :)