Black-faced grassquit
Melanospiza bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766)
The black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) is a species in the family Thraupidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 9.5 g to 10 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Quick facts about the black-faced grassquit
- Weight
- 9.5 g – 10 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Granivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the black-faced grassquit live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the black-faced grassquit as introduced in 1 country.
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
What is the black-faced grassquit?
The black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) is a small bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in the West Indies except Cuba Colombia, Venezuela and islands off its coast, and on islands in the western Caribbean Sea.
From the Wikipedia article “Black-faced grassquit” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-faced_grassquit&oldid=1378902102), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the black-faced grassquit endangered?
The black-faced grassquit is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the black-faced grassquit classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyThraupidae
- genusMelanospiza
- SpeciesMelanospiza bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms Euetheia bicolor, Loxigilla bicolor, Tiaris bicolor
Other names and names in other languages (43)
- Carib grassquitEnglish
- Chee-chee birdEnglish
- SparrowEnglish
- Tobacco birdEnglish
- Tobacco seedEnglish
- menjagrà caranegreCatalan
- kubánka dvoubarváCzech
- JamaicafinkeDanish
- SchwarzgesichtchenGerman
- JamaikagimpeltangareGerman
- dukolora tangaroEsperanto
- Gorrión negroSpanish
- Chamorro negroSpanish
- Juana MarucaSpanish
- Semillero bicolorSpanish
- mustanaamasirkkunenFinnish
- Cici verdinèreFrench
- Sporophile ciciFrench
- maslinastokrili sjemenarCroatian
- feketeképű kölespintyHungarian
- Erbero faccianeraItalian
- ニショクコメワリJapanese
- juodagalvis tiarisLithuanian
- melnā stērstiņaLatvian
- MaskergrondvinkDutch
- skifergresspurvNorwegian
- MòfiPapiamento
- MoffiPapiamento
- ziębołuszcz ciemnolicyPolish
- papa-capim-bicolorPortuguese
- Cigarra-de-cara-pretaPortuguese
- sementeiro-de-faces-pretasPortuguese
- Чернолицый тиарисRussian
- Чернолицый семилероRussian
- ostrovčan dvojfarebnýSlovak
- Crnoliki graskvitSerbian
- sisitangaraSwedish
- skiffergräsfinkSwedish
- Västindisk frösparvSwedish
- Kara Yüzlü TohumculTurkish
- потрост чорноволийUkrainian
- 黑脸草雀Chinese
- 黑臉離草雀Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the black-faced grassquit
Other species in the same genus Melanospiza.

Saint Lucia black finch
Melanospiza richardsoni
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the black-faced grassquit?
An adult black-faced grassquit weighs 9.5 g – 10 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the black-faced grassquit endangered?
The black-faced grassquit is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
Is the black-faced grassquit an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the black-faced grassquit as introduced in 1 country: Barbados, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the black-faced grassquit?
The black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) belongs to the family Thraupidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-grassquit
“Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-grassquit.
@misc{black_faced_grassquit_2026,
title = {Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-grassquit},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}