The

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

-blue grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea''), also known as the indigo grosbeak, is a species of bird 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

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 ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The glaucous-blue 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 ...

. For much of its history, the glaucous-blue grosbeak was the only member of genus ''Cyanoloxia''. Following a 2004 publication, the blue-black grosbeak (now ''Cyanoloxia cyanoides'') and ultramarine grosbeak (now ''Cyanoloxia brissonii'') were moved from genus ''Cyanocompsa''. What is now Amazonian grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia cyanoides'') was later split from blue-black grosbeak.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 glaucous-blue grosbeak is approximately long. Three birds weighed from . The male is generally dark sky blue that is lighter on the forehead and rump and is grayish on the lower belly. It has a small black "mask". The female is brown overall, warm and dark above and orange-tinged below. The immature is orange-brown that is darker on the back, and it has a hint of blue on the forehead and cheek.Brewer, D. (2020). Glaucous-blue Grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.glbgro1.01 retrieved May 17, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The glaucous-blue grosbeak nests in northeastern Argentina, southeastern Brazil, and much of Uruguay. During the austral winter, some move into southeastern Paraguay and further north in Brazil. It inhabits low, somewhat dense, vegetation such as along forest edges, on river islands, in marshes, and in

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 ...

. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to in Brazil.

Behavior

Feeding

The glaucous-blue grosbeak is known to forage in pairs but other details and its diet have not been published.

Breeding

The glaucous-blue 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 ...

has only been documented in Uruguay. There it nests from October to December. Two to four eggs are laid in a cup nest of twigs placed in dense vegetation.

Vocalization

The glaucous-blue grosbeak usually sings from dense cover, "a fast, high, hurried jumbled warbling

Its call is "psit" or "jit

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 glaucous-blue grosbeak as being of Least Concern. However, it is " nerally rather rare to uncommon over much of tsrange" and is poorly known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1591168 glaucous-blue grosbeak Birds of the Selva Misionera Birds of the South Region Birds of Brazil Birds of Argentina Birds of Uruguay glaucous-blue grosbeak Taxonomy articles created by Polbot