The hooded grosbeak (''Hesperiphona abeillei'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

family found in the highlands of Central America, principally in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. This is a medium large

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 ...

with a large bill. The male has a black head and bright yellow upper parts. The female is less brightly coloured and has a smaller black cap. The species was briefly described by the French naturalist

René Lesson René Primevère Lesson (20 March 1794 – 28 April 1849) was a French surgery, surgeon, natural history, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist. Biography Lesson was born at Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort, and entered the Naval ...

in 1839 under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Guiraca abaillei''. The

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...

now assigns the hooded grosbeak together with the closely related

evening grosbeak The evening grosbeak (''Hesperiphona vespertina'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae found in North America. The evening grosbeak is bulky, with a large bill and short tail. The bird has a distinct appearance, with the adult ma ...

to the genus ''

Hesperiphona ''Hesperiphona'' is a genus in the finch family Fringillidae. The genus was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte with the evening grosbeak as the type species. The name combines the Ancient Greek Ancient G ...

''. This genus was introduced by the French ornithologist

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

in 1850. Some authorities place these two grosbeak species together with the

hawfinch The hawfinch (''Coccothraustes coccothraustes'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only extant species placed in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. Its closest living relatives are the genus '' Eophona'' of East Asia, a ...

in the genus ''

Coccothraustes The hawfinch (''Coccothraustes coccothraustes'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only extant species placed in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. Its closest living relatives are the genus '' Eophona'' of East Asia, a ...

''.

References

External links

Videos and photos from the Internet Bird Collection
{{Taxonbar, from=Q118917 Hesperiphona Birds of Mexico Birds of Guatemala

hooded grosbeak The hooded grosbeak (''Hesperiphona abeillei'') is a passerine bird in the finch family found in the highlands of Central America, principally in Mexico and Guatemala. This is a medium large grosbeak with a large bill. The male has a black head ...

Taxa named by René Lesson