Pectoral Sparrow Arremon taciturnus

Pectoral Sparrow Arremon taciturnus

Brazilian name: Tico-tico-de-bico-preto

Pectoral Sparrow, Mãe da Lua Reserva, Itapagé, Brazil, October 2008 - click for larger image

Ceará, Brazil
October 2008

The Pectoral Sparrow is distributed throughout the Amazon Basin except in the western parts and in north-east and eastern Brazil. It is usually inconspicuous and found in the undergrowth of forest and woodland. Photos 1, 2 and 4 were taken in caatinga.

As the Brazilian name suggests, the Pectoral Sparrow is noted for its black bill while most of the other Arremon sparrows have yellow bills. Just to confuse the issue, however, the sub-species A. t. axillaris of north-east Colombia and western Venezuela has a yellow lower mandible.

The Pectoral Sparrow also has a complete black breast band rather than the broken band seen on the San Francisco Sparrow and other congeners.

There are recordings on xeno-canto, a distribution map from NatureServe and additional information available via Avibase. There is a page with excellent photos at Wikiaves.

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