Yellow-faced Grassquit

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Tiaris olivacea

Gorrión Barba Amarilla,
Semillerito Cariamarillo

Photo: M. Oberle

IDENTIFICATION: A small, olive-green finch with a black bib, and a yellow throat and forehead. The female lacks the black bib and has fainter yellow head markings. Length: 11-12 cm.; weight: 7-9 g.

VOICE: The typical song is a weak, prolonged, rattly trill repeated on several pitches. Sometimes the last trill is on a very low pitch that is barely audible. Audio (M. Oberle). The song can be so faint that it is hard to localize the bird. The call note is described as a faint "treep."

HABITAT: Open, brushy fields, marshy areas, and roadsides with tall grass.

HABITS: Travels in flocks and feeds on small seeds from tall grasses or close to the ground. It will also eat some fruits, spiders and small insects. Sometimes flies to the top of a grass stalk and rides it to the ground to get at the seeds. The male sings hidden in tall grass, or visible from the top of a grass stalk or on a more conspicuous bush, post, fence or wire. Its nest is a low, globular grass structure with an entrance on the side, and contains 3-4 bluish or greenish-white eggs with brown spots.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: A common species in open country, but has narrower habitat preferences than the Black-faced Grassquit. It may eventually experience some reduction in population as urban development replaces open fields.

RANGE: Occurs throughout the Greater Antilles; and from Mexico south to Colombia and northwestern Venezuela.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; EMBERIZIDAE. Puerto Rico has an endemic subspecies (Tiaris olivacea bryanti).

Photo: M. Oberle

References

Bradley, P. and Y. Rey-Millet. 1985. Birds of the Cayman Islands. P.E. Bradley, George Town, Grand Cayman.

Downer, A. and R. Sutton. Birds of Jamaica. 1990. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK. 152pp.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Recher, H.F. and J. T. Recher. 1966. A contribution to the knowledge of the avifauna of the Sierra de Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 6:151-161.

Yellow-faced Grassquit, Spanish text

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Jamaica race (Tiaris olivacea olivacea) - Photo: G. Dremeaux