Black-throated Grosbeak

The black-throated grosbeak is 20 cm (7.9 in) to 22 cm (8.7 in) long. The species is sexually dimorphic though the sexes are similar. Adult males are mostly deep slate-blue. Their lores, face, ear coverts, throat, and upper breast are black. Their wings are black with deep slate blue feather edges and their tail is uniformly black. Their underwing coverts are white. Adult females are overall duller than males with less blue in their upperparts and less of a contrast between the upper and lower breast. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a bright coral-red bill, and dark gray legs and feet. Juveniles are duller and less blue than adults with sometimes a dark culmen. The species closely resembles it sister slate-colored grosbeak, which however is grayer and has less black on the face and a white throat.

The black-throated grosbeak has a disjunct distribution with one large range and two small ones. Its main range is primarily in southeastern Brazil from southern Bahia and eastern Minas Gerais south to northern Rio Grande do Sul and continuing west to northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province and at least historically also into southeastern Paraguay. A small range is in eastern Pernambuco and Alagoas in northeastern Brazil and another in Goiás in south-central Brazil. There are also a few scattered records in northern Brazil. The black-throated grosbeak is a bird of the humid Atlantic Forest.

The black-throated grosbeak's diet has not been studied. It usually forages from the forest's mid-story to its canopy.