Jamaican Euphonia

© Tom Johnson

© Kiirsti

Birdfinding.info ⇒  Generally common across Jamaica and readily found at most of the forested sites frequented by birdwatchers: e.g., Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, Marshall’s Pen, Hardwar Gap, San San, and Ecclesdown Road.

Jamaican Euphonia

Euphonia jamaica

Family: Fringillidae

Endemic to Jamaica, where it is generally common throughout the island at all elevations in most wooded and semiopen habitats, including gardens.

Identification

The only euphonia on Jamaica.  Easily recognized by its plump shape and stout, parrotlike, gray-and-black bill.

Male is blue-gray overall with white undertail coverts and a variable amount of yellow on the belly.  Often has an indistinct blackish mask.

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Negril, Jamaica; February 13, 2015.)  © Sadik Kassam

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; February 7, 2010.)  © Mike Weedon

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Marshall’s Pen, Jamaica; July 7, 2008.)  © Steve Metz

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; March 22, 2015.)  © Sam Woods

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; February 2014.)  © Tom Davis

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Windsor, Jamaica; February 20, 2016.)  © Bill Chambers

Jamaican Euphonia, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 29, 2019.)  © Michael Woodruff

Female is similar to male, but with an olive back and wings, and an olive wash on the flanks.

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Negril, Jamaica; February 13, 2015.)  © Sadik Kassam

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; March 10, 2017.)  © Michael McCloy

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Jamaica; February 2017.)  © Paul Bowyer

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 29, 2019.)  © Michael Woodruff

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Green Castle Estate, Jamaica; November 6, 2013.)  © Alan Van Norman

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Marshall’s Pen, Jamaica; February 6, 2014.)  © Jeremy Gatten

Jamaican Euphonia, female.  (Font Hill Nature Preserve, Jamaica; January 21, 2013.)  © Garrett MacDonald

Voice.  Song is a rapid twittering chatter: One of its common calls is a wrenlike scold that resembles the electric starter of a car engine:

Notes

Monotypic species.

References

eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed November 21, 2018.)

Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

Hilty, S. 2018. Jamaican Euphonia (Euphonia jamaica). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/61782. (Accessed November 22, 2018.)

Isler, M.L., and P.R. Isler. 1987. The Tanagers: Natural History, Distribution, and Identification. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.