The Amazonian grosbeak or Rothschild's grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia rothschildii'') is a species of

grosbeak Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of d ...

in the family

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in much of the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

, in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.Fitzgibbon, D. and N. L. Block (2020). Amazonian Grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia rothschildii''), 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.bubgro2.01 retrieved May 17, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The Amazonian grosbeak is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

. It was formerly considered a subspecies of

blue-black grosbeak The blue-black grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia cyanoides'') is a species of songbird in the family Cardinalidae. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society places this species in genus ''Cyanoloxia''. In addition, ...

(''Cyanoloxia cyanoides'') and following 2014 and 2016 publications it was elevated to species status.García, N.C., Barreira, A.S., Kopuchian, C. and Tubaro, P.L. (2016). Congruence of phenotypic and genetic variation at the subspecific level in a Neotropical passerine. Ibis. 158(4): 844–856.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 January 19, 2021

Description

The Amazonian grosbeak is long and weighs . The adult male is mostly dark blue. Its forecrown and part of the wings are light blue and the underparts are blackish on the belly. It has a bit of black on the face. The female's upperparts are dark brown and the underparts a paler brown. Juveniles are similar to the female.

Distribution and habitat

The Amazonian grosbeak is the most widely distributed grosbeak in the Amazon Basin. It is found from eastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and Peru to central Bolivia, from southern and eastern Venezuela east through

the Guianas The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, are a geographical region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guianas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch, and French Guiana respectiv ...

, and in all of Amazonian Brazil. In Venezuela it ranges in elevation from near sea level to , in Peru to , and in Bolivia mostly to and rarely to . It inhabits the understory and edges of humid

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and tall

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

Behavior

Feeding

Little is known about the Amazonian grosbeak's feeding behavior and diet, though it appears to eat mostly seeds and fruit with some insects as well.

Breeding

Almost nothing is known about the Amazonian grosbeak's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

. It appears to nest between January and June. The nest is a cup of dried leaves and fern stems and the clutch size is two.

Vocalization

The Amazonian grosbeak's song has been rendered as "''pee tee-tu-tu-ti-pee'chee''". Its call is "a sharp, harsh, dry ''tchit''". As of May 2021, no recordings were available at

Xeno-canto xeno-canto is a citizen science project and repository in which volunteers record, upload and annotate recordings of bird calls and sounds of orthoptera and bats. Since it began in 2005, it has collected over 575,000 sound recordings from more th ...

or the

Macaulay Library The Macaulay Library is the world's largest archive of animal media. It includes more than 71 million photographs, 2.6 million audio recordings, and over three hundred thousand videos covering 96 percent of the world's bird species. There are an ev ...

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the Amazonian grosbeak as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and tolerates disturbed habitats. "In the longer term, however, Amazonian Grosbeak potentially is vulnerable to widespread habitat loss."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q55118251 Amazonian grosbeak Birds of South America Amazonian grosbeak