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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 123, No. 4. December 2011 
been investigated in detail, and it has been 
suggested that all Amaurospiza are nomadic to 
some extent (Lentino and Restall 2003). The 
Blackish-blue Seedeater feeds mainly on seeds, 
but it does not appear to be an obligatory 
specialist on bamboo seeds (Areta et al. 2009); 
consequently, it may not need to wander to 
survive. Records of this species in extreme 
southern Brazil are concentrated in some months 
of the year (Belton 1994) and the possibility (hat it 
performs regular seasonal migration has not been 
investigated. We reviewed the range of the 
Blackish-blue Seedeater and present noteworthy 
range extensions. We studied its seasonal distri¬ 
bution. looking for evidence of regular large scale 
movements in latitude, longitude, or elevation. 
The possibility of nomadic movements by this 
species was also briefly considered. 
bias in collecting effort. We circumvented this 
problem by making comparisons between the 
number of Blackish-blue Seedeaters and Buff 
fronted Foliage-gleaners (Philydor rufum) col¬ 
lected throughout the year. This latter is a forest 
species (Retnsen 2003) that also inhabits areas 
with extensive growth of bamboo (Rodrigues et 
al. 1994). We used Spearman Rank Order 
Correlation (Sokal and Rohlf 1995) to investigate 
if numbers of collected specimens of both specie* 
were correlated. A strong correlation should 
suggest that monthly variation in the abundance 
of Blackish-blue Seedeaters is attributable to 
collecting effort and that, consequently, it is a 
resident species, as is the Buff-fronted Foliage- 
gleaner. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
METHODS 
Several sources of data were used to identify 
the range ol Blackish-blue Seedeaters. We (1) 
compiled our unpublished field records and those 
obtained by several experienced observers; (2) 
performed a wide literature review; (3) visited 
nine Brazilian and three North American muse¬ 
ums; (4) wrote to curators of another four 
Brazilian and five European museums; (5) 
checked the on-line data bases of many other 
museums, and (6) checked for tape recordings in 
three sound libraries. Geographical coordinates 
were obtained from ornithological gazetteers 
(Paynter 1989. 1995; Paynter and Traylor 1991) 
We also benefited from a wide review by 1. P 
Gonzaga when he sketched an account’ of 
this species for the American birds Red Data 
Book (Collar et al. 1992), which was later not 
included. 
We examined the seasonal distribution of this 
species from three bivariate plots with the month 
along the x-axis and latitude, longitude, and elevation 
along the y-axis. Seasonal concentration of records in 
some areas ol the plot should provide evidence for 
regular long-distance or altitudinal migration. 
Small scale or nomadic movements are more 
difficult to study, requiring long-term bird mon¬ 
itoring programs, which arc lacking for Blackish- 
blue Seedeaters. Evidence of local fluctuations in 
abundance ol this species can be obtained by 
examining the monthly variation in number of 
collected specimens in the Province of Misiones 
Whkh h “ s ««■*» ®ries of ,his 
species. We are aware these data are sensitive to 
BJacRish-blue Seedeaters range from soutbeost- 
ern Brazil (eastern Minas Gerais and Rio dc 
Janeiro southward) to southeastern Paraguay anti 
northeastern Argentina in the Atlantic Forest 
(Fig. ]; a complete list of the occurrences of this 
species, including unacceptable records is avail¬ 
able upon request from the senior author). It also 
occurs in the Cerrado region in the states of 
Maranhao (Hellmayr 1929), Tocantins (Pacheco 
et al. 2007). and Mato Grosso do Sul (Silva 
1995b). We present the first records for the 
Cerrado from Minas Gerais and the first state 
record for Mato Grosso. 
The first Minas Gerais record was obtained in 
the Santo Antonio River (I8 C 07' 48" S. 46 II 
57" W. 680 m asl), municipality of Presidente 
Olegario. A single male was observed singing on 
2 March 2009 and a female was mist-netted the 
following day. Both individuals were photo¬ 
graphed. Local vegetation was a second growth 
riparian forest (4—9 m tall) with dense understory 
dominated by an unidentified bamboo specie* 
bearing seeds. A second record was obtained on 
22 October 2010 by Eduardo Gazzinelli (per>» 
comm.) on the Abaete River (18 05' S, 45 22' 
W. 635 m asl), municipality of Sao Gonfalo do 
Abaet<£ (tape-record deposited in XC 67339- 
acronyms in Table 1). These localities axe 
<90 km apart. 
The Mato Grosso record was obtained on 24 
February 2008, when we tape-recorded (ASEC 
16382 and XC 21052) the typical song of this 
species in the Fazenda Bai'a de Pedra (16 27' 29 
S, 58 09' 59" W. 110 m asl), municipal'') ot 
Cdceres (Fig. 1). This area is in the northern 
