Grassland Yellow-Finch

About the Grassland Yellow-Finch

The grassland yellow finch (Sicalis luteola) is a small passerine bird. Despite its name, it is not a finch, but is a seedeater. These were formerly united with the buntings and American sparrows in the Emberizidae, but are now known to be tanagers. It is a resident in tropical South America, from Colombia south and east to the Guianas and central Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. Birds which breed further south in Argentina and Uruguay migrate to Bolivia and southern Brazil, (the cerrado etc.), in the austral winter. There are also isolated populations in Central America and Mexico. It was discovered on Trinidad in 2004, presumably having colonised from nearby Venezuela.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Sicalis luteola

Family

Tanagers and Allies

Order

Passeriformes

Similar species

Other members of the tanagers and allies family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• Azure-rumped Tanager Poecilostreptus cabanisi
• Bananaquit Coereba flaveola
• Black-faced Grassquit Melanospiza bicolor
• Black-headed Saltator Saltator atriceps
• Black-throated Shrike-Tanager Lanio aurantius
• Blue Dacnis Dacnis cayana
• Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina
• Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
• Buff-throated Saltator Saltator maximus
• Chestnut-throated Seedeater Sporophila telasco
• Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer Diglossa baritula
• Cinnamon-bellied Saltator Saltator grandis