Gray Seedeater

The grey seedeater is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long and weighs 11 to 16 g (0.39 to 0.56 oz). It has a short thick bill with a rounded culmen. The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a medium gray head, neck, and upperparts; the color has a blue cast. Their crown, mantle, and back have faint darker streaks. Their wings are blackish with medium gray edges on the coverts and tertials and white bases on the inner primaries. The last shows as a patch on the folded wing. Their tail is blackish. Their throat is medium gray, their breast a darker gray, and their belly, vent, and undertail coverts whitish. Adult females have a buffy brown crown and a paler, warmer, buffy brown face. Their nape, upperparts, wings, and tail are also buffy brown. Their throat, breast, and flanks are pale warm cinnamon and their belly and undertail coverts are a paler buff. Juveniles resemble adult females. Subspecies S. i. insularis is larger than the nominate with whitish patches on the lower ear coverts and a white band across the lower rump. S. i. bogotensis is darker overall than the nominate, with whitish patches on the ear coverts, larger white bases on the primaries, and a pale gray band between the darker throat and breast. Both sexes of all subspecies have a dark brown iris and blackish legs. Males have a pinkish orange bill and females a blackish one.

The nominate subspecies of the grey seedeater is found across northern Colombia and south into the lower valley of the Magdalena River and also from the center of the country north and east. From these two areas its range continues east across Venezuela except in the Andes and southeast and then into western Guyana and slightly into extreme northern Brazil's Roraima. Subspecies S. i. bogotensis is found on the western slope of Colombia's Western Andes and in the valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers. The South American Classification Committee has at least one record of the species found as a vagrant in French Guiana and at least one unconfirmed record from Ecuador. The status of S. i. insularis is uncertain. It was originally described as limited to Trinidad. Some sources also place it in northern Venezuela. As of December 2022 it was listed as extirpated from Trinidad, and AviList (2025) notes it as such. However, two were photographed there in December 2023. In addition, Birds of the World calls it "scarce to uncommon in Trinidad". The grey seedeater inhabits open areas such as grasslands, shrubby forest clearings and edges, and vacant lots, parks, and gardens in urban areas. In elevation it ranges in Venezuela from sea level to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) north of the Orinoco River and to 300 m (1,000 ft) south of it and in Colombia to 2,400 m (7,900 ft). …

The grey seedeater feeds primarily on grass seed, especially those of Panicum species, and also includes small arthropods and nectar in its diet. It usually plucks seeds while clinging to grass stems, and takes flying insects in mid-air. In the breeding season it is usually seen singly or in pairs and outside that time forms small flocks.