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Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch | Poospizopsis caesar
Grijsflankboomgors | Monterita pechicastaña | Tico-tico-de-peito-castanho
The Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch is a large finch endemic to the dry and semi-humid Andean valleys of southern Peru. It has a grey head and back, a white throat and brow, and a chestnut breast. The species lives in scrub on slopes and in ravines, often near fields.
Voice
The song is a short series of clear, whistled notes. The call is a sharp chip.
Recording: Étienne Leroy — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
18–19 cm, with a stout, conical, dark bill and a fairly long tail. The head and upperparts are grey, with darker grey cheeks, a white supercilium and a white throat. The breast and centre of the belly are chestnut, the flanks grey, the undertail coverts rufous. The wings and tail are dark grey. The sexes are alike. Young birds are duller and browner, with a less distinct pattern.
Confusion species
Cochabamba Mountain Finch Poospiza garleppi of Bolivia has a rufous-orange brow and entirely rufous-orange underparts without a white throat. Rufous-chested Tanager Thlypopsis ornata is much smaller, with a rufous head, an olive-grey back and a thin bill. Rufous-breasted Warbling Finch Poospiza rubecula lives on the west slope and has a rufous throat and brow.
Habitat
Dry to semi-humid scrub on slopes and in ravines, edges of Polylepis woodland, hedges and shrubs along fields and terraces, roughly between 2500 and 4000 m. It forages in shrubs and on the ground for seeds and insects, mostly in pairs or small groups.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Only in Peru, in the Andes of the south, in the departments of Apurímac, Cusco and Puno. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Endemic to the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search shrubby ravines and hedgerows in the dry valleys around Cusco, including the Sacred Valley; the birds often perch on top of a shrub or a wall.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Locally fairly common within its limited range; it tolerates a mosaic of scrub and small-scale farming.
Scientific name
Poospizopsis caesar | (Sclater & Salvin, 1869)
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1869 as Poospiza caesar; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Poospizopsis was introduced in 1893 by Berlepsch. The genus name combines the genus Poospiza with Ancient Greek opsis, 'appearance'. The species name is Latin caesar, 'crown prince, emperor'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Tinta, Cusco, Peru.