Blue Seedeater

About the Blue Seedeater

The blue seedeater (Amaurospiza concolor) or Cabanis's seedeater is a species of bird in the cardinal family that is found in southern Mexico and Central America. The Ecuadorian seedeater (Amaurospiza aequatorialis) was formerly considered a subspecies of the blue seedeater.

The blue seedeater was formally described in 1861 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis based on a specimen that had been collected in Costa Rica. Cabanis placed the species in a new genus Amaurospiza and coined the binomial name Amaurospiza concolor. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "uniform", "similar in colour" or "plain".

The blue seedeater was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Ecuadorian seedeater. Most authorities now treat the Ecuadorian seedeateras a separate species. This is based largely on the results of molecular phylogenetic studies that were published in 2014 and 2023. Confusingly, as of January 2024, BirdLife International uses the scientific name A. moesta for blue seedeater. The BirdLife account encompasses what are now the blue, Ecuadorian, and blackish-blue seedeaters.

Two subspecies are recognised: A. c. relicta (Griscom, 1934) – southwest... Wikipedia →