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Glacier Finch | Idiopsar speculifer
Gletsjergors | Diuca aliblanca | Tico-tico-das-geleiras
The Glacier Finch is one of the highest-living songbirds: a large, grey finch with a white throat and a white wing patch, of the highest puna and the edge of the permanent snow. On the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru it has been found nesting in cavities in the glacier ice, which is highly exceptional among birds. It was long placed in the genus Diuca.
Voice
Poorly described: short whistles and a soft, chirping song, often heard already at dawn.
Recording: Dan Lane — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17–19 cm, with a sturdy, conical, grey bill. The upperparts are grey, the wings blackish with a white patch at the base of the primaries, visible mainly in flight. The throat and a crescent below the eye are white, the breast is grey and the belly whitish. The outer tail feathers have white edges. The female is duller and browner grey; young birds are browner and faintly streaked.
Confusion species
White-throated Sierra Finch Idiopsar erythronotus also has a white throat, but no white wing patch and no white crescent below the eye. Plumbeous Sierra Finch Geospizopsis unicolor is smaller and plain grey, without white. Band-tailed Sierra Finch Rhopospina alaudina has a white band in the tail, a yellow to orange bill and a white belly. Boulder Finch Idiopsar brachyurus has a much longer, pointed bill and no white wing patch.
Habitat
High puna, bofedales, rocky slopes, scree and the edges of glaciers and snowfields, mostly between 4000 and 5300 m. It feeds on the ground, often in and along bofedales, on seeds and invertebrates. It breeds in rock crevices and, on the Quelccaya ice cap, in cavities in the glacier ice; the nest is a large, deep cup of grass.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Peru along the Andes from the centre (Ancash and Junín) to the south. In Bolivia in the west, in the high cordilleras. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in northern Chile and the far north-west of Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search high passes, such as Ticlio Pass in Peru, along bofedales and scree slopes above 4500 m; in flight, watch for the white wing patch.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The retreat of glaciers may in time remove breeding sites on the ice; there are no other known threats.
Scientific name
Idiopsar speculifer | (d'Orbigny, ACVMD & de Lafresnaye, 1837)
D'Orbigny, ACVMD & de Lafresnaye described the species in 1837 as Emberiza speculifera; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Idiopsar was introduced in 1867 by Cassin. The genus name combines Greek idios, 'distinct, peculiar', with psar, 'starling'. The species name comes from Latin speculum, 'mirror' (the wing speculum), and -fer, 'bearing'. The specimen the first description was based on came from high Andes, Bolivia.