Photo credit: K. Perez Leon
Source: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/grey-seedeater-sporophila-intermedia/male
Common Name: Grey Seedeater; Picoplat
Scientific Name: Sporophila intermedia
Physical Description: 11.2cm (4.5”) long. 11–16 g. A small passerine (relating to birds of a large order distinguished by having feet adapted for perching, including all songbirds). It possesses a thick, pale bill which is approximately long as it is deep. The upper ridge of its bill is characteristically rounded. Male picoplat or seedeaters upperparts are grey, while its underparts are white. Its bill is pinkish-yellow, and legs black. Females as well as juveniles upperparts are brown, underparts yellowish brown , and they have blackish/dusky bills.Cultural Significance: Kept usually as a pet, the Picoplat is one of the most popular of small finches commonly trapped as a caged bird for its song in Trinidad particularly the males.
Behaviour: This species often occurs in groups/flocks, associating with other seedeaters (sporophiline finches). Males have a rich, varied song that is delivered from a prominent perch. Its song comprise of thrills,whistles and chirps typically characterized as a “gee-gee-gee-gee’ vocalisation and can include mimicry of other birds common or abundant in the area.
Distribution/ Range: This species occupies a large range. It is common in northwestern South America and native to Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Columbia and Guyana. Ranges up to 1200m in the tropical and subtropical zones. Its natural habitats include subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland and heavily degraded forest.
Threats: Hunting, particularly trapping out of season, using inappropriate methods for trapping, unregulated trapping of males as well as keeping birds in cages that are too small or in unsuitable conditions, encroachment on habitat, urbanisation, habitat change/degradation, and illegal smuggling of the species into the country via the south-western peninsular.
Legal Status: The Sporophila intermedia is listed as a critically endangered species under the Draft Forest Protected Areas and Wildlife Conservation Bill.
References:
BirdLife International (2012). Sporophila intermedia. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22723410/0. (Accessed 22/1/2015)
BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Sporophila intermedia. http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=9529 (Accessed on 22/1/2015)
Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology (2010). Grey Seedeater (Sporophila intermedia). http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=623596 (Accessed 22/1/2015)
Rising, J. & Jaramillo, A. (2011). Grey Seedeater (Sporophila intermedia). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) (2014).Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. http://www.hbw.com/node/62111 (Accessed on 22 January 2015).
The Trinidad and Tobago NatureLink (2011) Birds of Trinidad Savanna and Grassland 1. http://www.ttnaturelink.com/quick-guides/birds-trinidad-savanna-grassland (Accessed on 23/1/2015)
Winer L. (ed.)(2008) Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago: On Historical Principles. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Canada, p. 692.The Trinidad and Tobago NatureLink (2011) Birds of Trinidad Savanna and Grassland 1. http://www.ttnaturelink.com/quick-guides/birds-trinidad-savanna-grassland (Accessed on 23/1/2015)
