White-throated Seedeater

The white-throated seedeater is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long and weighs about 9.7 g (0.34 oz). It has a thick bill with a rounded culmen. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a blackish crown and face with a white spot above the lores, a white arc below the eye, and a white throat whose color extends rearward as a partial collar most of the way around the neck. The rest of their head, their nape, and their upperparts are dark grayish. Their tail is darker gray. Their wings are darker gray with white bases on the primaries that show as a patch on the closed wing. They have a narrow blackish band below the throat and the rest of their underparts are mostly whitish with grayish sides on the breast and a gray wash on the flanks. Females have a warm buffy brown head, upperparts, wings, and tail. Their throat is whitish, their breast and flanks warm buffy brown, and their belly and vent whitish. Both sexes have a dark brown iris. Males have an orange-yellow to orange-pink bill and blackish legs. Females have a dusky bill and legs.

The white-throated seedeater is found in northeastern Brazil from the Atlantic west to a line that roughly traces from northeastern Maranhão south to western Bahia and then northeast to northeastern Bahia. There are also scattered records further north and west. It inhabits caatinga scrublands and the edges of shrubby woodland at elevations up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

The white-throated seedeater feeds primarily on grass seeds. It feeds mostly on the ground and sometimes while clinging to stems. In the non-breeding season it usually forages in small groups.