A Beautiful Bird – The blue, no, black, no, Blue-Black Grosbeak.

With only the slight twinge in my left butt cheek from an anti-sickness jab, 5 am in the morning I was raring to go. My favourite bird we caught that mist-netting session was the Blue-Black Grosbeak (Cyanocompsa cyaanoides).

These 16 cm birds are widespread in lowland humid forests in both East and West Ecuador. Our bird was from the east. Instead of the uniform dark blue plumage of the west, our bird had pale and bright blue plumage on its forehead, brow, malar area and shoulders. As their name suggests these birds have a heavy dark bill. The Blue-Black Grosbeak is dimorphic so the females appear a uniform deep chocolate colour. I was very excited to see this bird as they are usually heard, with their variety of rich whistled notes, but are not normally seen. They are shy, non-social birds and they generally remain in pairs inside forests.

Lucy Coals – GVI Amazon volunteer, Nov-Dec 2010

A Beautiful Bird – The blue, no, black, no, Blue-Black Grosbeak.