Birdfinding.info ⇒ Uncommon, secretive, endangered, and declining. Probably most readily seen at Millet Nature Reserve. Other sites where it has been found consistently include Quilesse Forest Reserve, the Des Cartiers Rainforest Trail, Praslin, and the Marquis forest above Grande Anse.
St. Lucia Black Finch
Melanospiza richardsoni
Endemic to St. Lucia, where it occurs in all native forest habitats. However, surveys have found substantial areas of apparently suitable habitat unoccupied.
Identification
A plump, short-tailed finch with a proportionately large bill that is deep-based and sharp-tipped.
Male is all-black with pale-pink legs and feet.
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (St. Lucia; March 11, 2020.) © David Ascanio
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (St. Lucia; March 11, 2020.) © David Ascanio
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (Millet Nature Reserve, St. Lucia; March 12, 2019.) © Larry Therrien
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (Millet Nature Reserve, St. Lucia; April 9, 2009.) © John Oates
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (Marquis, St. Lucia; April 3, 2019.) © Jesse Fagan
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (Des Cartiers Rainforest Trail, St. Lucia; August 1, 2018.) © Jerome Foster
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (St. Lucia; February 28, 2020.) © Blake Matheson
St. Lucia Black Finch, male. (Praslin, St. Lucia; January 24, 2014.) © Charles Davies
Female is plain, with warm-brown upperparts, pale-brown underparts, a grayish head and a whitish throat.
St. Lucia Black Finch, female. (Des Cartiers Rainforest Trail, St. Lucia; May 15, 2014.) © Peter Garrity
St. Lucia Black Finch, female. (Quilesse Forest Reserve, St. Lucia; March 29, 2015.) © Joelle Buffa Clyde Morris
St. Lucia Black Finch, female. (Grande Anse, St. Lucia; February 15, 2021.) © Will McPhail
St. Lucia Black Finch, female. (Praslin, St. Lucia; January 18, 2021.) © Will McPhail
St. Lucia Black Finch, female. (Marquis, St. Lucia; November 28, 2019.) © Aravind Ramesh
Immatures apparently resemble females. Some individuals with distinctively female-like plumage show flecks of black, which seems to indicate that they are immature males molting into adult plumage.
St. Lucia Black Finch, possibly an immature male beginning molt into adult plumage. (Praslin, St. Lucia; January 25, 2019.) © Jim Miles
St. Lucia Black Finch, female or possibly an immature male beginning molt into adult plumage. (Millet Nature Reserve, St. Lucia; January 4, 2019.) © Tom Younkin
St. Lucia Black Finch, possibly an immature male beginning molt into adult plumage. (Praslin, St. Lucia; January 25, 2019.) © Jim Miles
Cf. Black-faced Grassquit. Male Black-faced Grassquits can sometimes be dark enough to appear all-black, especially in dim lighting, and can therefore be confused with male St. Lucia Black Finch. Both have pink legs and feet, but the black finch’s are usually a paler, brighter shade. Bill size and coloration are often conclusive: the grassquit has a smaller bill that is usually at least partly pale, whereas the male black finch’s bill is larger in all dimensions and all-dark.
Cf. Lesser Antillean Bullfinch. Female Lesser Antillean Bullfinch can be mistaken for female St. Lucia Black Finch, which differs in having a grayish head, whitish throat, pale-brown or buffy underparts, and pink legs.
Notes
Monotypic species.
IUCN red List Status: Endangered.
References
BirdLife International. 2020. Melanospiza richardsoni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22723725A180219096. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22723725A180219096.en. (Accessed April 7, 2021.)
eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed April 7, 2021.)
Kirwan, G.M., A. Levesque, M. Oberle, and C.J. Sharpe. 2019. Birds of the West Indies. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
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.
Xeno-Canto. 2021. St. Lucia Black Finch – Melanospiza richardsoni. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Melanospiza-richardsoni. (Accessed April 7, 2021.)