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10 cm. It is very small, smaller than a sparrow. The feet are relatively big. The back and wings are brown and the ventral part white barred in black. The forehead of the male is red, while the female’s is black with white dots. In the immature the head is all brown. Can be told apart from the White-Barred Piculet ( Picumnus cirratus ) for having an ochraceous region around the neck and for being darker, mainly on the upper parts. Distribution: Southeastern Brazil and spread southwards up to Argentina. Habitat: Forest edges, gallery and secondary forests, woods, parks and gardens in big cities. Diet: Feeds mainly on ants larvae and pupae, but also on other insects. Reproduction...

15 cm. It is a small sparrow with the head striated in black and white. There is a topknot and a rufous collar around the neck that is more evident in the male. The back and the wings are brown. The immature does not have bands in the head. Cinnamon and albine mutations are not uncommon. Distribution: From Mexico to Tierra del Fuego. Absent in dense forests. Habitat: Fields, crops, woods, gardens and parks in cities. Diet: Insects, seeds and occasionally human leftovers. Licks the sweet liquid produced by aphids. Reproduction: The couple establishes a territory that is fiercely protected by the male. The nest is built in short bushes or even on the ground among tall grass. The n...

12,5 cm. The male’s upper parts are dark gray. The face and a ribbon around the neck (the collar) are black. The posterior part of the throat, the belly and a narrow band around the eye are white, sometimes buffy. The color of the beak varies individually. The female and the Young males are brown with the inferior parts lighter. Distribution: From Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay, Argentina to Peru. Habitat: Grasslands, crops. They sleep in tall grass and sugar cane crops were they may bend the stems with their weight. Diet: Feeds on grains. Follows the expansion of seed producing grasses, thus invading new areas as the Distrito Federal. Frequently eats arthropods such as inse...

13,5cm The most distinguishing features of this species are the yellowish-orange head and the grayish-green body. This shades of color may vary depending on the subspecies, given that this bird is distributed thoughout the tropical region South to the Amazon river and East to the Andes. There is also a curiously isolated population in the Orinoco river basin. It lives in secondary forest, forest edges and even in cities with plenty of trees. Spends most of its time in the canopy, rarely coming to the ground. This bird moves in a very typical way, climbing the branches in a fast zig-zag, up to the tip and then letting itself fall onto the base of the next branch. It feeds mainly on s...

11 cm. The body of the male is dark gray in the upper parts, with the face and anterior part of the throat black. The posterior part of the throat and the belly are white, as well as the spots on the sides of the head. The female is brown with the belly lighter. It is thinner than the female of the double collar seedeater Sporophila caerulescens, the tail is longer, the beak smaller with the inferior part buffy. The young individuals are also brown. Distribution: From Guianas to Argentina and Paraguay. In Brazil from the north to São Paulo, Mato Grosso and Goiás. Habitat: Grasslands, open fields, crops and secondary forest borders. Diet: Grains. Reproduction: The couple lives ...

Just like other seedeaters, it is practically impossible to tell this species apart from the brownish females, virtually identical to the other seedeaters’ females. Nevertheless the males present the chest and the head in black, the upper parts dark brown and the belly is yellow or beige. Its behavior is very similar to other seedeaters and may form mixed groups with other species when not breeding. It is less urban than the Double-collared and the Lined Seedeaters, being more common in grasslands and grain crops. May be raised as a cage bird. In the breeding season the couples split from the groups. The nest is a low bow made of grasses and the female usually lays 2 or 3 eggs.