Ultramarine Grosbeak (Passerina brissonii)
Female Ultramarine Grosbeak, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil, July 2002 - click for larger image Brazil

The Ultramarine Grosbeak is found in 3 disjunct areas: south-west Colombia, northern Venezuela and eastern Brazil through Bolivia and Paraguay into central Argentina.

It inhabits dense scrub such as chaco woodland and caatinga as well as thickets in semi-open areas.

Female Ultramarine Grosbeak, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil, July 2002 - click for larger image The female could be confused with the female Great-billed and Large-billed Seed-finches but their bills are proportionately more massive and have a straight culmen whereas these birds have a curved culmen. The female is cocoa brown above and paler brown below.

The male is dark blue with paler blue on the forehead, supercilium and shoulders.

Male Ultramarine Grosbeak, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil, March 2004 - click for larger image There are illustrations in Ridgely & Tudor, Volume 1, Plate 25; and Sick, Plate 43.
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