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Ash-breasted Sierra Finch | Geospizopsis plebejus
Grijsborstsierragors | Yal plebeyo | Tico-tico-serrano-de-peito-cinza
The Ash-breasted Sierra Finch is a small, plain grey sierra finch of open highlands, from Ecuador to Bolivia. It lives in flocks in grassland, fields and rocky slopes and is one of the most numerous finches over much of the puna. Its grey, streaked plumage blends with stones and grass tussocks.
Voice
The song is a short, dry, buzzy trill or a series of harsh notes, often from a rock or in flight. The call is a thin tseep.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12 cm, with a small, pointed, dark bill. The male is grey above with dark streaks on the back, has an ash-grey breast and a whitish belly. The female is browner, with a streaked back and a faintly streaked breast. Young birds are brown and heavily streaked, also below.
Confusion species
Plumbeous Sierra Finch Geospizopsis unicolor is larger; the male is plain lead-grey without streaks and the female is more heavily streaked. Band-tailed Sierra Finch Rhopospina alaudina has a white band in the tail and a yellow to orange bill. Band-tailed Seedeater Catamenia analis has a white band in the tail, a yellowish bill and a chestnut vent. Plain-colored Seedeater Catamenia inornata is larger, with a pinkish bill and a chestnut vent.
Habitat
Puna and páramo, dry grassland with scattered shrubs, rocky slopes, fields and terraces, roughly between 2500 and 4800 m. It feeds in flocks on the ground on seeds. The nest is a cup of grass, hidden in a grass tussock or among stones.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Ecuador locally along the Andes, mainly in drier parts of the inter-Andean valleys and on the páramo. In Peru widespread in the highlands. In Bolivia in the Andes and on the altiplano. Absent from Colombia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in northern Chile and north-western Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On the puna and along highland fields, look for small flocks of small grey finches flushing from the ground; they often mix with other sierra finches and yellow finches.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Widespread and common; it tolerates grazed grassland and small-scale farming.
Scientific name
Geospizopsis plebejus | (Tschudi, 1844)
Tschudi described the species in 1844 as Phrygilus plebejus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Geospizopsis was introduced in 1856 by Bonaparte. The genus name combines the genus Geospiza with Greek opsis, 'appearance': resembling Geospiza. The species name comes from Latin plebeius, 'common, plebeian', after the plain grey plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Junín, Peru.