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Fulvous-headed Brushfinch | Atlapetes fulviceps
Bruinbaardstruikgors | Atlapetes cabecirrufo | Tico-tico-de-cabeça-fulva
The Fulvous-headed Brushfinch is a brushfinch of the southern Yungas in Bolivia and north-western Argentina. It has a cinnamon head with yellow markings, a green back and yellow underparts. It is closely tied to alder woodland and often stays along streams.
Voice
The song is a short, high, rhythmic series of repeated notes, also described as an explosive chew-chew-chew. The call is a thin zit; the alarm call sounds roughly like pi-ziue.
Recording: Niels Krabbe — CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17 cm, with a short, sturdy, black bill and a fairly long tail. The head is mostly cinnamon, with a yellow spot above the lores, a yellow moustachial stripe and a yellow chin and throat. The upperparts are green; the wings and tail are slate-grey with green edges. An olive band crosses the breast and continues along the flanks to the undertail coverts; the belly is yellow. The iris is medium brown, the legs are brownish. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Bolivian Brushfinch Atlapetes rufinucha has only a rufous crown and nape, with a blackish face and a blackish back. White-browed Brushfinch Arremon torquatus has a black-and-grey striped head and white underparts. Other brushfinches in its range lack a cinnamon head.
Habitat
Semi-open woodland: edges of Yungas forest and Polylepis woodland, secondary forest and the undergrowth of woodlots, especially alder (Alnus) woodland and often near streams, mostly between 1500 and 3600 m. In winter some birds move down to about 400 m. It lives singly or in pairs and searches on the ground or up to about 3 m above it for insects, seeds and some fruit, and sometimes catches insects in flight. The breeding season includes at least January; little else is known about breeding.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Bolivia on the eastern slope of the Andes in the centre and south of the country, mainly in Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz and Tarija; to the north possibly into La Paz. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in north-western Argentina, in Jujuy and Salta.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search in alder woodland and along streams in the mountains of southern Bolivia, for example in Tarija and Chuquisaca. Birds forage low in the undergrowth and at forest edges; listen for the thin calls and look along the edges of alder stands.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is large; the population is thought to be declining, but no immediate threats are known. Locally common.
Scientific name
Atlapetes fulviceps | (d'Orbigny, ACVMD & de Lafresnaye, 1837)
D'Orbigny, ACVMD & de Lafresnaye described the species in 1837 as Emberiza fulviceps; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Atlapetes was introduced in 1831 by Wagler. The genus name comes from Greek: the mythical titan Atlas and petēs, 'flyer'. The species name comes from Latin fulvus, 'tawny', and -ceps, 'head', for the tawny head. The specimen the first description was based on came from Totora, Cochabamba, Bolivia.