General

Morelet's Seedeater: Small finch with short, thick curved bill. Male has black cap extending to auriculars, white under-eye arcs, whitish chin and incomplete collar separated by black nape; black bib, whitish underparts, gray-black upperparts, and black wings have bright white wingbars. Female is yellowish-olive or yellowish-brown overall with darker upperparts than underparts, dark wings have two whitish wingbars.

Range and Habitat

Morelet's Seedeater: Range extends from the Rio Grande to the Yucatan Peninsula and throughout Central America to Panama along the Gulf and Pacific slope. Found in savannas, grasslands, shrub lands, and in vegetation along rivers.

Breeding and Nesting

Morelet’s Seedeater: Two to four pale blue to gray eggs with brown marks at larger end are laid in a nest of sticks, plant stems and grass lined with hair three to five feet above the ground in small trees or bushes. Eggs are incubated for 13 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Morelet's Seedeater: Eats seeds and insects foraged from ground.

Vocalization

Morelet's Seedeater: High pitched series of notes followed by a series of low notes.

Similar Species

Morelet's Seedeater: Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater has rufous underparts and rump and lacks white wing bars and under-eye crescent.