They feed on various seeds, nuts, fruits (mainly cactus fruits), flowers, leaves and other plant material found within its range.
They eat the seeds ofFavela / Faveleira trees (Cnidoscolus phyllacanthus) and Pinhão-brabo trees (Jatropha pohliana var. mollissima); and the fruits of Fachiero cacti (Cereus squamosus) and local licuri palm (Syagrus coronata).
They also take the fruits and seeds of the Joazeiro cacti (Ziziphus joazeiro) and the " paudecolher" (Maytenus rigida); and the nuts of the Buriti palm (Mauritia flexuosa) (Meyer de Schauensee 1971, Sick 1985)