Bicolored conebill
| Bicolored conebill | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Conirostrum |
| Species: | C. bicolor |
| Binomial name | |
| Conirostrum bicolor (Vieillot, 1809) | |
The bicolored conebill (Conirostrum bicolor) is a small passerine bird. This member of the tanager family is a resident breeder in South America from Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad south and east to the Guianas, northeast Peru and Brazil.
Its habitat is coastal mangrove swamps and neighbouring woodlands. The small feather-lined cup nest is built in a mangrove tree, and the normal clutch is two brown-blotched buff eggs. Nests are often parasitised by shiny cowbirds.
The bicolored conebill is 11.4 cm long and weighs 11 g. The adult is grey-blue above and buff-tinged grey below, with red eyes, pink legs and a sharp, pointed bill. The primary flight feathers are bluish with brown edgings. The sexes are similar, although the female may be a little duller, but immature birds are greenish above and have pale yellow underparts. Birds sometimes breed in immature plumage.
These warbler-like birds eat mainly insects and occasionally seeds. The bicolored conebill's call is a thin tseep.
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Conirostrum bicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.