Male Violaceous Euphonia

Sightings
This male Violaceous Euphonia was an uncommon visitor to the area near the main verandah at the Asa Wright Centre. In common with its congeners, it is an attractive bird and photographed here in the late afternoon sunshine perched on a branch above the bird feeders. It is a species which I have also photographed in the Atlantic rainforest area of Brazil.

Species
Violaceous Euphonia Euphonia violacea is a small passerine bird in the true finch family Fringillidae. Adult Violaceous Euphonias are 11.4 cm long and weigh 14 g. The male Violaceous Euphonia has glossy blue-black upperparts and a deep golden yellow forehead and underparts. The female and immature are olive green above and greenish yellow below. These are social birds which eat mainly small fruit and only rarely take insects. Members of the genus Euphonia are prized as cage birds and several are threatened by trapping, but this species benefits from its relatively inaccessible habitat. There are three subspecies of which E. v. rodwayi is found in Venezuela and Trinidad.

Status and distribution
It is a species of least concern in its very large range of more than 9 million square kilometres. Its overall population is unknown but thought to be decreasing. It is a resident breeder from Trinidad, Tobago and eastern Venezuela south to Paraguay and north eastern Argentina. The bird’s range in northern Brazil is the lower portion of the Amazon Basin and the adjacent Tocantins River drainage, with its north western limits from Brazil and the Guyanas, the eastern banks of the Orinoco River drainage in central Venezuela. It is a common and widespread Trinidad resident in estates, second growth and forest but is scarce on Tobago where it is restricted to hill forest.

References
Asa Wright Centre; BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 256

Photographs
Photographed at 1/1000th of a second, f5.6 and ISO 800