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Band-tailed Seedeater Catamenia analis Scientific name definitions

Alvaro Jaramillo
Version: 1.1 — Published July 17, 2024
Revision Notes

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Introduction

Fairly common where it occurs, Band-tailed Seedeater ranges along the Andes from northern Colombia to southern Argentina. It inhabits shrubby arid areas below the puna line, particularly around agricultural areas and hedgerows. It forages on the ground or in grasses. Though generally encountered as singles or pairs, it also joins mixed-species finch flocks. This small seedeater can be distinguished by the unique white band at the base of the tail feathers. Also note the yellowish bill and white belly. Males are dark overall with rufous undertail coverts, whereas females are pale brown with crisp chest streaking. Their song is a fast, dry, short trill.

Field Identification

12–14.5 cm; 10.3–16.6 g. A small seedeater with short conical bill as long as it is deep, but with only moderately rounded culmen. Male nominate subspecies has head gray, at most indistinct streaking on crown, and typically darker blackish gray around bill base; upperparts also gray, back with browner tone than crown and rump, the latter a purer blue-gray; tail blackish, bold white band across middle (band may be hidden by all-dark central rectrices when bird perched); upper­wing blackish, gray fringes on coverts, cinnamon fringes on tertials, white bases of all primaries (showing as white patch on folded wing, white wingstripe in flight); underparts gray, paler than upperparts, becoming whitish-gray on middle of belly , contrasting with deep chestnut undertail-coverts ; iris dark; bill yellowish; legs brownish-gray. Female is brown and streaked: head rather plain, lacking obvious supercilium or dark eyeline, and streaked throughout, streaking denser on crown, back warmer brown with dense dark brown streaks; tail brown with bold white band (band obvious in flight; visible also on underside of tail when bird perched); brown wings edged warmer cinnamon-brown, usually a small white or pale patch at base of primaries; throat, breast and flanks off-white with brown streaking, belly to undertail-coverts pale buffy white and unstreaked; bill horn-yellow with dark culmen and tip, legs grayish. Juvenile is like female, but much browner and more densely streaked both above and below. Fledgling has head, neck, and upper throat striped with gray and brown, with medium gray feather bases; back with cinnamon and brown stripes, with medium gray on the feather bases, dark brown on the apex, and cinnamon borders; lower chest and belly yellow with dark brown stripes; and brown remiges (1). Much variation in subadult plumages, apparently two immature (post-juvenile) stages in both sexes before adult plumage, male becomes progressively less streaked and more solidly darker grayish above and below, younger female more heavily streaked than older female, and adult female the most grayish and least streaked; more study needed to determine variation in this pattern (and, in particular, whether it applies throughout species’ range). Subspecies differ mainly in size, depth of plumage colors, and extent of wingstripe: analoides has white in wing restricted to inner web of each primary, but extending farther towards wingtip; insignis is more grayish below than previous, and lacks an obvious white wingstripe; alpica is large, has grayish around bill base (lacking black-faced look), little or no white at base of primaries (no obvious wingstripe), smaller tailband; <em>schistaceifrons</em> resembles last, but smaller, with bigger tailband; soderstromi is darker rufous on undertail coverts, has white fringes on primaries, more extensive wingstripe (to outer primary webs); <em>griseiventris</em> is smaller than last, has more white on tail and is similarly grayish flanked, unlike warmer-toned analoides.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Less closely related to Plain-colored Seedeater (Catamenia inornata) and Paramo Seedeater (Catamenia homochroa) than latter two are to each other (2). Division of subspecies in HBW into N and S groups, based on strong (S) or weak/absent (N) white wing-stripe, mistaken: variation in wing-stripe strength is mosaic among taxa. Proposed subspecies subinsignis (described from Sandillani, near La Paz City, in Bolivia) is synonymized with nominate. Seven subspecies currently recognized.

Subspecies


SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis alpica Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Santa Marta Mts, in N Colombia.

SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis schistaceifrons Scientific name definitions

Distribution

C parts of C and E Andes of Colombia.

SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis soderstromi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Ecuador (W slope and inter-Andean valleys).

SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis insignis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E slope of Peruvian Andes (Cajamarca S to Ancash).

SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis analoides Scientific name definitions

Distribution

W slope of Andes of Peru (Piura S to Ayacucho).

SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis griseiventris Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SW Peru (Cuzco S to Tacna).

SUBSPECIES

Catamenia analis analis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

extreme N Chile (Arica–Parinacota), highland Bolivia (La Paz E to W Santa Cruz, S to Tarija), and NW and EC Argentina (Jujuy and Salta S to Mendoza and La Pampa, and highlands of Córdoba; also Sierra de la Ventana in SW Buenos Aires).

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Inhabits cultivated areas, including edge of agricultural fields, pastures, villages, and edges of towns; also shrubby hillsides and grasslands adjacent to thickets or scrub. Generally occurs at 1,000–3,700 m; up to 4,650 m in Santa Marta Mountains (N Colombia); also down to sea level in Peru (Lima).

Movement

Largely resident. In C Argentina evidence of some downslope movements in winter, some reaching W Buenos Aires.

Diet and Foraging

Seeds, with apparent liking for seeds of composites; also eats berries and insects. Forages on ground and in low vegetation; often perches on grass or weed stems to extract seeds while still on stalk. In pairs and in small groups of up to 20 individuals; often in mixed flocks with other seed-eating species.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song  a buzzy trill, bzzzzzzzz or trrrrrrrr, lasting ~1 s, repeated every 3–8 s. Speed and pitch of trill variable: some males change from one trill type to another; some songs begin with very faint introductory note (followed by trill). At least in Argentina, also a complex song, a trill followed by a buzzy ascending note and then another trill on different pitch, trrrrrrrrrr zwZZZZZ prrrrrrr zwZZZZ prrrrrr zwZZZZZ. Call st or tzi.

Breeding

Fledglings found in May (Moquegua) and June (Amazonas) in Peru and in September in Colombia (Boyacá); breeding appears to take place in March–May (after summer rains) in S Peru and N Chile (1). Nest a cup made from vegetable fibres, lining of hair and wool. One nest described in Putre (Arica, Chile) in April was built in a lechero (Euphorbia lactiflua) shrub and contained horse hair and feathers; the external cup dimensions were 100 x 140 mm (80 mm in height) and the internal cup dimensions 50 x 60 mm (30 mm in depth; 1). Clutch size in Argentina was reported as three eggs, pale greenish with brown and violet markings, these largely concentrated at wide end; in Colombia, two eggs, bluish with darker marking around wide end. In Putre, Chile, a nest was found with four nestlings ready to fledge; another fledgling, a male weighing 12 g, was captured in the vicinity of the nest (1).

Not globally threatened. Fairly common to common, and locally abundant. Has large range, high abundance, and no evidence of any significant population declines.

About the Author(s)

Alvaro began birding as an 11 year old in Canada, and eventually trained in Evolutionary Ecology, studying creatures as varied as leaf-cutter ants and Argentine cowbirds. But his career has been focused on birding tourism, both as a guide and owner of his tour company, as well as an avitourism consultant to various organizations. He is the author of Birds of Chile, New World Blackbirds: The Icterids, as well as the ABA Field Guide to Birds of California. He lives in Half Moon Bay, California, where he is known for his pelagic birding trips. Email: alvaro@alvarosadventures.com.

Distribution of the Band-tailed Seedeater - Range Map
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Distribution of the Band-tailed Seedeater

Recommended Citation

Jaramillo, A. (2024). Band-tailed Seedeater (Catamenia analis), version 1.1. 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.batsee1.01.1
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