Yellow-Faced Grassquit

The male yellow-faced grassquit is another bird I really loved. I saw them at Rocklands Bird Sanctuary near Montego Bay, Jamaica (where I got photos) and Hotel Mockingbird Hill near Port Antonio and in the Blue Mountains (where I did not get photos). 

Males: the first three photos are of the same bird.

The male has an olive-green back, a black face and breast with a bright yellow throat, lower eyelid spot and supercilia, a dark conical bill and eyes and gray legs. The female is dull olive-green above and paler gray below, may have some dark breast smudges and the yellow face pattern is weaker and duller or non-existent. 

Female

It is part of the tanager family and related to the Darwin finches. It is found in the Caribbean Islands, the eastern coast of Mexico and much of Central America and portions of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. There are five subspecies. I saw the nominate subspecies (olivaceus) which is found in Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola and the Cayman Islands. 

I didn't know what I was seeing when I saw it. When I described it to my bird guide I kept describing it as having green markings on its face. This confused the guide and he wasn't sure what I was talking about. I was actually thinking of the yellow markings, but the yellow makes the green really stand out and that's what stuck in my head.