Black-faced Grassquit

Black-faced Grassquit (Tiaris bicolor) male

Black-faced Grassquit

Order : Passeriformes
Also known as Passerine’s or perching bird’s. Any member of the largest avian order which includes more than 5,700 species, more than half of all living birds. Passerine’s are true perching birds with four toed feet, three toes facing forward and one larger toe facing backwards.

Family : Finches (Fringillidae)
Finches are seed eating Passerines mainly confined to the Northern Hemisphere, though some extend to South America. They are small to medium sized birds with a strong usually conical beak. Their flight is a bouncing alternate of flaps and glides on closed wings, and most sing well. There is some confusion over exactly which family the West Indian species belong, some Ornithologists placing them in the family Emberizidae.

Name :Black-faced Grassquit (Tiaris bicolor)
Length : 11 - 12 cm ( 4½ in )
Local Names : Grass Sparrow, Tobacco Bird

Abundant and widely distributed throughout the West Indies, the Black-faced Grassquit is a species of open countryside, grassland, scrub and garden. It’s diet consisting almost extensively of grass or herb seed taken almost exclusively from the ground. The Male is green above with distinguishing black underparts, the female is greenish brown above and lacks any black underparts. The nest is globular with a side entrance, and is usually placed in a bush or tree.

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Bird identification pictures

Black-faced Grassquit female

Black-faced Grassquit female

Barred Antshrike

Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus)

Barred Antshrike

Order : Passeriformes
Also known as Passerine’s or perching bird’s. Any member of the largest avian order which includes more than 5,700 species, more than half of all living birds. Passerine’s are true perching birds with four toed feet, three toes facing forward and one larger toe facing backwards.

Family : Antbirds (Thamnophilidae)
Antbirds are a large family of subtropical and tropical central and south American Passerines, from the family Formicariidae, making up more than 230 species in 50 genera. All are fairly small birds 9.5 to 37 cm ( 4 to 14 inches), and tend to have drab, fluffy plumage being predominantly brown, black and white, with sexes usually being different. They are insectivorous, and generally share incubation duties.

Name : Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus)
Length : 15 cm (6 in)

The Barred Antshrike is usually seen in pairs, the rufus coloured female not far behind the black and white male, calling in a distinctive chuckling ‘Ka - Ka - Ka’ that accelerates towards the end, it’s tail wags rapidly in time with the notes and it’s crest erects. The pair calling frequently to each other as they move around. The nest is hung under a thin branch like a two handled basket where both parents attend to nest duties, incubating and rearing the young. They inhabit light woodlands and bush, and can frequently be seen in suburban gardens and hotel grounds. The Antshrike’s diet consists mainly of insects found as it hunts through low bushes.

#barred antshrike #Thamnophilus doliatus #antbirds #Thamnophilidae #Passeriformes #Passerine #perching #bird #identification #birds #birds of Tobago

Bird identification pictures

Bananaquit

Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) Honeycreeper

Bananaquit 

Order : Passeriformes
There is a great deal of confusion about just which family or sub family this loosely fitting range of birds belong to. Some authors now place most honeycreepers into either Emberizidae or Tanager families, while others place the Bananquit as the only remaining member of the Coeredidae family. What can be said is that the Honeycreepers are small brightly coloured tropical American birds that feed on fruit, nectar and small insects.


Family : Honeycreepers (Coerebidae)
Also known as Passerine’s or perching bird’s. Any member of the largest avian order which includes more than 5,700 species, more than half of all living birds. Passerine’s are true perching birds with four toed feet, three toes facing forward and one larger toe facing backwards.

Name : Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
Length : 10 - 13 cm ( 4 - 5 in )
Local Names : Sugar Bird, Sucrier

Ranging from tropical South America north to southern Mexico and throughout the West Indies the Bananaquit is adapted to taking nectar from flowers with it’s slender decurved bill, however it is known for piercing longer flowers from the side therefore bypassing pollination of the flower. It cannot hover like hummingbirds but perches, either on an adjacent stem or branch, or, due to it’s light weight, directly on the flower, often causing fatal damage to the bloom itself. It also eats fruit and insects and has a particular ‘sweet tooth’ often entering homes and restaurants where it will boldly take sugar or dig holes in bread. They are even know to nest inside of chandeliers or other suitable nesting spots inside of a house. The Bananaquit will build two nests during breeding, the first a spherical nest with side entrance where three eggs are laid. The second nest is not as well constructed and believed to be used for a night roost. The male often leaves the female to care for the brood to find

#bananaquit #coereba flaveola #honeycreepers #coerebidae #Passeriformes #Passerine #perching bird #bird #Birds of Tobago

Identifying Images