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Rufous-bellied Euphonia Euphonia rufiventris Scientific name definitions

Steven Hilty
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2011

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

The Rufous-bellied Euphonia is an Amazonian species, which is usually found in pairs and regularly within mixed-species flocks, in the canopy and at borders of humid forest, both on terra firme and in seasonally flooded areas. The species is usually rather uncommon, but it is fairly common locally. It is principally confined to upper and southern Amazonia, and is absent from the Guianan Shield. Males are entirely glossy blue above, and over the throat and upper breast, with rich tawny posterior underparts, with a golden pectoral patch. Females, by contrast, are olive above, with a grayish nape, and becoming slightly more yellowish over the throat, breast, and flanks, with whitish central underparts.

Field Identification

10 cm; 13–18 g. Smallish euphonia with short, stout bill, male distinctive in having no yellow forehead patch and no white in tail. Male nominate race has head to throat and centre of chest and entire upperparts, including shoulder and upperwing-coverts, glossy dark steel-blue; flight-feathers and tail dusky, edged and tinged dark steel-blue; rest of underparts orange, this colour extending up on side of chest, where more golden-yellow; golden-yellow pectoral patch (usually hidden beneath wing); iris dark brown; upper mandible and tip blackish, cutting edge of upper mandible and all except tip of lower mandible pale blue-grey; legs dark grey. Female is darkish olive above, with yellowish tinge on forehead and greyish on nape; chin yellowish, throat and underparts mostly grey, sides and flanks olive-yellow, undertail-coverts contrastingly tawny. Juvenile undescribed. Race carnegiei male differs from nominate in darker blue upperparts and darker tawny on lower underparts (belly, flanks, undertail-coverts), female overall darker, more olive (less yellow-green), than nominate, and often with weak metallic blue gloss on upperparts.

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.

Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

SE Colombia to s Venezuela, n Bolivia and w Amaz. Brazil

Habitat

Canopy of humid and wet terra firme and várzea forest, and regularly found along forest borders, tall second-growth woodland and occasionally tall shade trees in humid clearings. Lowlands to 1100 m on tepuis of S Venezuela; elsewhere mainly lowlands up to c. 500 m; in small numbers in foothills to 700–900 m in Ecuador and to 1000 m in Peru.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Variety of small fruits and berries, including mistletoe berries (Loranthaceae). Contents of four stomachs were vegetable matter, including fruit pulp and Cecropia seeds. Most often mashes fruit before swallowing. Most often seen alone or in pairs (seldom small groups), and a regular member of mixed-species flocks in canopy of lowland rainforest; in general not particularly conspicuous, perhaps because it usually stays so high. Often twitches tail to one side. Only infrequently associates with other members of its genus around mistletoe clumps. Forages mostly in canopy or subcanopy, and spends much time in and around epiphytes, including especially large bromeliads, high in canopy and in emergent trees. Noted as taking small berries from a large bromeliad c. 34 m up in canopy in NE Peru.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Commonest call a rough, low-pitched rattle, “j’a’a’a’a, j’a’a’a’a, j’a’a’a’a”, the series varying from two to six rattles, and with gravelly quality; at a distance could be mistaken for a large cicada (Cicadidae). Song not definitely described, but two female-plumaged birds in top of 30-m tree gave what was possibly a duet; one gave a series of “zeet” notes, the other “zit-zit, wit-wit, what-eeeee” (“wit” notes lower-pitched), this short series repeated over and over for several minutes, the two birds turning first one way, then the other, and flicking tail from side to side.

Breeding

No information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Fairly common to common, and widespread across W & C Amazonia. Occurs in numerous protected areas, and its range encompasses extensive intact forest habitat that, while unprotected, faces little or no threats in the short term.
Distribution of the Rufous-bellied Euphonia - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Rufous-bellied Euphonia

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Hilty, S. (2020). Rufous-bellied Euphonia (Euphonia rufiventris), 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.rubeup1.01
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