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🪶Help me out, #ornithology folks of #BirdSky! Curating @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social collections for digitisation, I found this labeled Stripe-tailed Yellow Finch (Sicalis citrina), which it's NOT. #SouthAmerican #birds ≠ my forte: is this a Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) or something else?

It's a small bugger, collected in end of April in Bartica Grove in northern Guyana. Wing length 49 mm. I'd be very happy for your input! #LBJ #MuseumLife

@lamamala.bsky.social I wonder if you could help Martin?

he's right! for me is a female/eclipsing male of Volatinia jacarina

Very glad to hear this; many thanks for taking your time!

There is something odd on this bird. Not sure if the light on the pics is biasing, but it looks too much “patterned” to link it to Volatinia in my brain. I’d keep an eye on other possibilities, just in case.

Thanks for the input, Vitor. The light may be playing a part; I somewhat sloppily adjusted brightness to compensate for suboptimal lighting for photography in the collections. Attaching an unadjusted pic here. But it could also be faded due to light exposure, increasing contrast.

If not Volatinia, what other options may there be from N Guyana? Any ideas, @piacentini.bsky.social?

Birds from Venezuela seem to be slightly shorter billed, less conical, then the ones in central/southern Brazil, so yours are quite ok here. Are the underwing coverts white? Check also if the tail is a little graduated (but the tip is very worn, right?) for reference: www.wikiaves.com.br/6373964