Ultramarine Grosbeak

15-17 cm. Bill short and heavy, but not as stubby as in /Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea : with a pale base to the mandible, otherwise black. <NMale is overall dark blue, the front, superciliary, malar streak, and shoulders light blue. <NThe female is dark reddish brown, wings darker. Belly fulvous-pale-brown. Call "bit". Song ca 2 sec, frequency of notes becoming lower at the end. Forages in pairs in thickets and in the middle stratum of trees. A skulker. Rare, probably due to relentless persecution for the cage bird trade, in forest border, dense thickets, arid scrub. Throughout. In Estado S<C4>o Paulo found at<8E>Alcatrazes ^119 , S<C4>o Sebastiao, Cananeia, Itarar<CA>, S<C4>o Miguel de Arcanjo, Mogi das Cruzes, Ipanema, Itatiba, Rio<8E>Mogi Guacu. In Estado Rio de Janeiro found at<8E>Cantagalo, Itatiaia, Petropolis, Nova Friburgo ^40 . Up to 1500 meters 11551 Song, November 20, 2002, Andresito, Misiones, Argentina. humid primary forest edge. 30<91>C, cloudy, humid. With /Thryothorus genibarbis, Thraupis bonariensis .: 6850 Song, November 29, 1996. Coroico, La Paz, Bolivia, 25<91>C, sunny. Forested slope. With /Thryothorus guarayanus .: 10783 > Male: 5821 > Female: 11096 Song: