Greyish Baywing

Overview

The greyish baywing (Agelaioides badius) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, found across South America. It is classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, with a stable population and a very large range.

Identification

• Adults are 19 cm long, with mostly grayish buffy brown heads, necks, and upperparts, and sandy olive buffy brown underparts.
• They possess a black bill, black legs and feet, and a dark eye, with blackish lores and ear coverts.
• The song is described as a quiet, musical continuum of warbles and trills, often sung in chorus, while flight calls consist of a clear prolonged whistle.
• Both sexes share the same plumage, though the A. b. bolivianus subspecies is larger than the nominate.

Habitat

This species inhabits a variety of open natural and human-modified landscapes, including open woodlands, savannas, scrublands, pastures, agricultural lands, and suburban areas. Its range extends from eastern Bolivia, southwestern Brazil, and southern Brazil south through Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern and central Argentina, with unconfirmed reports from Chile.

Diet

The diet includes insects, seeds of wild plants, and agricultural crops such as corn and rice. Foraging occurs in dense vegetation on the ground as well as in shrubs and trees, typically singly or in pairs during the early breeding season and in flocks of up to 25 individuals later on.

Did you know?

The greyish baywing is the primary and almost exclusive host of the brood parasite screaming cowbird, meaning it frequently rears offspring that are not its own.