The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(4):797-802, 2011 
SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION AND RANGE OF THE BLACKISH-BLUE 
SEEDEATER (AMAUROSPIZA MOESTA ): 
A BAMBOO-ASSOCIATED BIRD 
LEONARDO ESTEVES LOPES. 14 JOAO BATISTA DE PINHO, 2 AND 
CARLOS EDUARDO R. T. BENFICA 3 
ABSTRACT.—Avian bamboo specialists are an ecologically distinctive group of birds in the Neotropics with some 
seedeater species having nomadic movements following bamboo ( Guadua, Chusquea or Rhipidocladum) mast seeding. We 
reviewed the range and seasonal distribution ot Blackish-blue Seedeatcrs (Amaurospiza moesla) using published and 
unpublished records, museum specimens, sound libraries, and intensive field work. We report the first occurrence of 
Blackish-blue Seedcaters in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso, a male collected in Fazenda Baja de Pedra. Caceres (16 
J 29 S. 58 09 59" W). We also recorded this species in two localities in the Gerrado region (a tropical savannah) of 
Minas Gerais: the Santo Antonio River. Presidente Olegario (IX 07' 48" S, 46 IT 57" W). and the Abaete River, Sao 
Contain do Abaete (18 05' S, 45 22' W). These records represent a remarkable range extension, demonstrating this 
species is distributed across the Ccrrado. We found no evidence of regular large scale or local movements of this species, 
which seems to be resident, at least in Argentina, which had the largest data set. Received 15 September 2010. Accepted 4 
April 2011. 
Amaurospiza is a small and homogeneous 
neotropical genus of mid-size finches generally 
associated with bamboo (Guadua, Chusquea or 
Rhipidocladum) thickets and dense forest under¬ 
growth (Ridgely and Tudor 1989. Stotz et al. 
1996. Lentino and Restall 2003). Avian bamboo 
specialists generally have two distinct life-history 
strategies. The first is exhibited by insectivorous 
resident species that inhabit forests dominated by 
bamboo, where they find shelter, nest sites, and 
food (Parker et al. 1997, Areta et al. 2009). The 
second is specialization on bamboo seeds, which 
ls a rarer strategy, because these specialists must 
rely on an ephemeral source of food (Areta et al. 
-009). This is because most woody bamboo 
species are semelparous (individuals have only a 
ungle period of reproduction in their lives, after 
which they die) with simultaneous flowering and 
subsequent death of entire populations that, in 
certain American bamboos, occur in cycles of 30- 
40 years (Janzen 1976, Judzicu'icz et al. 1999, 
Bysiriakova et al. 2004). Bamboo seed specialists, 
therefore, wander to survive, and nomadic move- 
Laboraiorio de Zoologiu. Ciencias Bioldgicas. Univer- 
'•idadc Federal de Vi^osa, Campus Florestal, Rodovia 
LMG-818. km 6. 35690-000. Florestal, Minas Gerais, 
Brazil, 
Nudeo de Esiudos Ecoldgicos do Pantanal, IB. 
b'niversidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Av. Fernando 
Correa, 78075-960. Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, Brazil. 
SOS Falconiformes, Rua Odilon Braga 1370, 30310- 
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 
Corresponding author; e-mail: leo.cerrado@gmail.com 
merits make these species particularly difficult to 
study (Areta et al. 2009). Nomadic movements 
differ markedly from regular migration, which is 
predictable and seasonal. Nomadic movements 
are irregular, and destinations may differ from 
year to year, revealing an adaptation to use of 
resources that are patchy in space and time 
(Sinclair 1984). 
The most widely distributed Amaurospiza 
species is the near-threatened Blackish-blue 
Seedeater (A. moesla) (Birdlife International 
2010). Habitat requirements and movements of 
this species are poorly known, making it a high 
conservation and research priority (Stotz et al. 
1996). The range of Blackish-blue Seedeaters is 
still imperfectly known, and it is erroneously 
considered endemic to the Atlantic Forest (Stotz 
et al. 1996). a tropical forest mainly distributed 
across eastern Brazil, considered as a hotspot of 
biodiversity (Myers et al. 2000). An isolated 
occurrence of Blackish-blue Seedeaters in the 
Cerrado is known since Snclhlage (1928) who 
collected a single male in the southern Brazilian 
State of Maranhao (Hellmayr 1929). The Cerrado 
is a tropical savannah mainly distributed across 
central Brazil, also acknowledged as a hotspot of 
biodiversity (Myers et al. 2000). This ‘extralim- 
itaf occurrence, 800 km from the Atlantic Forest 
border, and 1.400 km from the nearest known 
occurrence at that time, was recently corroborated 
by observations in the northern border of the 
Cerrado (Pacheco et al. 2007). 
Seasonal distribution of this species has not 
797 
