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Passerina | |
---|---|
Painted bunting (Passerina ciris) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Cardinalidae |
Genus: | Passerina Vieillot, 1816 |
Type species | |
Tanagra cyanea Linnaeus, 1766 | |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
Guiraca |
The genus Passerina is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not directly related to buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings (the North American Emberizidae are colloquially called "sparrows" although they are also not closely related to these birds).
The males show vivid colors in the breeding season; the plumage of females and immature birds is duller. These birds go through two molts in a year; the males are generally less colorful in winter. They have short tails and short slim legs. They have smaller bills than other Cardinalidae; they mainly eat seeds in winter and insects in summer.
The blue grosbeak (P. caerulea) was once placed in the monotypic genus, Guiraca.
The genus Passerina was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. [1] The type species was designated in 1840 as the indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) by the English zoologist George Robert Gray. [2] [3] The genus name is from the Latin passerinus meaning "sparrow-like". [4]
The genus contains 7 species: [5]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blue grosbeak | Passerina caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758) | southern half of the United States and much of northern Mexico, migrating south to Central America and in very small numbers to northern South America; the southernmost record comes from eastern Ecuador. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Indigo bunting | Passerina cyanea (Linnaeus, 1766) | southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern South America during the winter. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Lazuli bunting | Passerina amoena (Say, 1822) | southern Canada to northern Texas, central New Mexico and Arizona, and southern California. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Varied bunting | Passerina versicolor (Bonaparte, 1838) | Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States south throughout Mexico as far as Oaxaca | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Painted bunting | Passerina ciris (Linnaeus, 1758) | southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern and eastern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, northern Florida, coastal Georgia, the southern coast and inland waterways such as the Santee River of South Carolina and northern Mexico. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Rose-bellied bunting | Passerina rositae (Lawrence, 1874) | Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
Orange-breasted bunting | Passerina leclancherii (Lafresnaye, 1840) | Mexico | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 44 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.
Cardinalidae is a family of New World-endemic passerine birds that consists of cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings. It also includes several other genera such as the tanager-like Piranga and the warbler-like Granatellus. Membership of this family is not easily defined by a single or even a set of physical characteristics, but instead by molecular work. Among songbirds, they range from average-sized to relatively large, and have stout features, some species with large, heavy bills.
The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12% of the Neotropical birds.
The avian genus Quiscalus contains seven of the 11 species of grackles, gregarious passerine birds in the icterid family. They are native to North and South America.
The indigo bunting is a small seed-eating bird in the cardinal family, Cardinalidae. It is migratory, ranging from southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern South America during the winter. It often migrates by night, using the stars to navigate. Its habitat is farmland, brush areas, and open woodland. The indigo bunting is closely related to the lazuli bunting and interbreeds with the species where their ranges overlap.
Pipilo is a genus of birds in the American sparrow family Passerellidae. It is one of two genera containing birds with the common name towhee.
The dickcissel is a small seed-eating migratory bird in the family Cardinalidae. It breeds on the prairie grasslands of the Midwestern United States and winters in Central America, northern Colombia, and northern Venezuela. It is the only member of the genus Spiza, though some sources list another supposedly extinct species.
The red-crowned ant tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird from tropical America. It is the only species now placed in the genus Habia. This species was long placed with the tanagers (Thraupidae), but it is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae).
Saltator is a genus of passerine birds in the tanager family Thraupidae that are found in Central and South America. They have thick bills, relatively long tails and strong legs and feet. Before the introduction of molecular genetic methods in the 21st century these species were placed in the cardinal family Cardinalidae.
Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of distantly related songbirds. Some are cardueline finches in the family Fringillidae, while others are cardinals in the family Cardinalidae; one is a member of the weaver family Ploceidae. The word "grosbeak", first applied in the late 1670s, is a partial translation of the French grosbec, where gros means "large" and bec means "beak".
The blue grosbeak, is a medium-sized North American passerine bird in the cardinal family Cardinalidae. It is mainly migratory, wintering in Central America and breeding in northern Mexico and the southern United States. The male is blue with two brown wing bars. The female is mainly brown with scattered blue feathers on the upperparts and two brown wing bars.
Conopophaga is a genus of birds in the gnateater family. Its members are found in forest and woodland in South America.
The friarbirds, also called leatherheads, are a groups of 18 relatively large honeyeaters in the genus Philemon. Additionally, the single member of the genus Melitograis is called the white-streaked friarbird. Friarbirds are found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and New Caledonia. They eat nectar, insects and other invertebrates, flowers, fruit, and seeds.
Piranga is a genus of birds long placed in the tanager family, but now considered members of the family Cardinalidae. The genus name Piranga is from Tupi word tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird.
The blue bunting is a species of passerine in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
New World sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming the family Passerellidae. They are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns.
Paroaria, the red-headed cardinals or cardinal-tanagers, are a genus of tanagers. They were until recently placed in the family Emberizidae.
Arremon is a genus of neotropical birds in the family Passerellidae. With the exception of the green-striped brushfinch which is endemic to Mexico, all species are found in South America, with a few reaching Central America.
The pectoral sparrow is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. The Brazilian name for this species is tico-tico-de-bico-preto, which in translation means "black billed sparrow".
The chestnut-belted gnateater is a species of bird in the family Conopophagidae, the gnateaters. It is found in the Amazon Basin of northern Brazil, southern Colombia and eastern Peru and Ecuador; also the Guianan countries of Guyana, Suriname and eastern French Guiana. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forest.