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Slaty Brushfinch | Atlapetes schistaceus
Grijsborststruikgors | Atlapetes pizarroso | Tico-tico-ardósia
The Slaty Brushfinch is a dark grey brushfinch with a rusty crown of the higher cloud forests of the northern Andes. A white moustachial stripe with a thin black stripe below and, in birds of the guide area, a white spot on the wing make it recognizable. It lives in pairs or family groups in the undergrowth, often in bamboo and in mixed flocks.
Voice
The song is given mainly at dawn and is a short phrase, roughly tsuu, tweet-tweet. In duet, pairs give high notes and trills ending in chewy-chewy-chewy. While foraging, high, thin tseet calls.
Recording: Alain Verneau — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17–18 cm, with a sturdy black bill and a fairly long tail. The crown and nape are rusty, the face mostly black, with a whitish spot on the lores. A long white moustachial stripe is bordered below by a thin black stripe. The upperparts are dark grey, the tail blackish. The wings are blackish, with a white spot on the closed wing. The throat is whitish with fine dark speckles; the breast and flanks are medium grey, the centre of the belly whitish. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Antioquia Brushfinch Atlapetes blancae lives only on a high plateau in Antioquia, is paler grey below and has a whitish face without a broad white moustachial stripe. Yellow-breasted Brushfinch Atlapetes latinuchus and Pale-naped Brushfinch Atlapetes pallidinucha have yellow underparts. Chestnut-capped Brushfinch Arremon brunneinucha has a white throat with a black breast band and an olive back.
Habitat
Shrubby edges and undergrowth of humid to wet montane forest, cloud forest, elfin forest and montane secondary forest, often with Chusquea bamboo, roughly between 2000 and 3600 m, in Ecuador mainly above 2500 m. It searches low in the vegetation and on the ground for insects, other invertebrates, seeds and berries. The nest is a cup in dense undergrowth.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Western and Central Andes, in the north of the Eastern Andes in Norte de Santander, and in the Serranía del Perijá. In Ecuador in the Andes, mainly on the eastern slope, south to northern Azuay. Under the current classification the species is absent from Peru and Bolivia, and from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the Andes of Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search bamboo-rich cloud forest and forest edges along mountain roads in the higher Andes, for example around Papallacta in Ecuador or in Los Nevados in Colombia. Groups move through the undergrowth, often with other species; listen for their thin calls.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is widespread and tolerates secondary forest and forest edges; its habitat is shrinking locally through deforestation.
Scientific name
Atlapetes schistaceus | (Boissonneau, 1840)
Boissonneau described the species in 1840 as Tanagra (Arremon) schistaceus; 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 schistaceus, 'slate-coloured', for the slaty grey plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.