Dickcissel
Spiza americana
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyCardinalidae (Cardinals and Allies)
- GenusSpiza (Dickcissels)
- SpeciesSpiza americana (Dickcissel)
About the Dickcissel
The dickcissel (Spiza americana) 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 dickcissel was formally described in 1789 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin under the binomial name Emberiza americana. Gmelin based his account on the "black-throated bunting" that the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant had described and illustrated in 1785 in his Arctic Zoology. The dickcissel is now the only species placed in the genus Spiza that was introduced in 1824 by French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. The genus name Spiza is the Ancient Greek word for a common type of finch, now assumed to be a chaffinch. The species is monotypic; no subspecies are recognised.
The dickcissel is part of a group of the Cardinalidae that also includes Amaurospiza, Cyanocompsa, Cyanoloxia, and Passerina. Spiza is the only one among these that lacks blue structural colors in its plumage. Though the color pattern and habits... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Dickcissel in Tayrona National Natural Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Tayrona National Natural Park
Summer Tanager
Piranga rubra
Blue-black Grosbeak
Cyanocompsa cyanoides
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Pheucticus ludovicianus
Scarlet Tanager
Piranga olivacea
Hepatic Tanager
Piranga flava
Blue-gray Tanager
Thraupis episcopus
Bicolored Wren
Campylorhynchus griseus
Crimson-backed Tanager
Ramphocelus dimidiatus
Tropical Kingbird
Tyrannus melancholicus
Buff-breasted Wren
Cantorchilus leucotis
Palm Tanager
Thraupis palmarum
Pale-breasted Thrush
Turdus leucomelas
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.