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Perija Brushfinch | Arremon perijanus
Perijástruikgors | Cerquero de Perijá | Tico-tico-de-perijá
The Perija Brushfinch is a large brushfinch of the Serranía del Perijá on the border of Colombia and Venezuela. It was formerly included in Stripe-headed Brushfinch Arremon torquatus in the broad sense and has been recognised as a separate species since that group was split. It lives in pairs close to the ground in the undergrowth of montane forest.
Voice
Very high, thin calls, roughly tseet, with which the members of a pair keep in contact. The song is a short series of high, thin whistles, mainly in the early morning.
Recording: Iván Lau — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
19 cm, sturdy, with a black bill and a fairly long tail. The head is black, with a grey median crown stripe and a grey supercilium. The throat is white; some birds show a narrow black band below the throat, others do not. The back, wings and tail are olive-green; the breast and flanks are grey and the centre of the belly is white. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller and browner, with a less sharp head pattern.
Confusion species
Black-fronted Brushfinch Atlapetes nigrifrons lives in the same mountains, but has yellow underparts and no grey head stripes. Chestnut-capped Brushfinch Arremon brunneinucha has a chestnut crown and a black breast band. Sierra Nevada Brushfinch Arremon basilicus of the Santa Marta and Grey-browed Brushfinch Arremon assimilis of the Andes are very similar, but do not occur in the Perijá; these species are separated mainly by range.
Habitat
Undergrowth of humid montane forest and cloud forest, forest edges and scrub, roughly between 1600 and 3200 m. It forages on and just above the ground for insects, other invertebrates and seeds. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia only in the Serranía del Perijá, in the departments of Cesar and La Guajira. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area on the Venezuelan side of the same range, in Zulia.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search the montane forest of the Serranía del Perijá in Cesar, for example in the Chamicero del Perijá reserve. Pairs forage low at forest edges and give themselves away by their high calls.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is small and much of the montane forest of the Perijá has been converted to fields and pasture, so the species depends on the remaining forest.
Scientific name
Arremon perijanus | (Phelps & Gilliard, 1940)
Phelps & Gilliard described the species in 1940 as Atlapetes torquatus perijanus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Arremon was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. The genus name comes from Greek arrhēmōn, 'silent, without speech'. The species name refers to the Sierra de Perijá on the border of Colombia and Venezuela. The specimen the first description was based on came from La Sabana, Sierra de Perijá, Zulia, Venezuela.