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Black-headed Brushfinch | Arremon atricapillus
Zwartkopstruikgors | Cerquero cabecinegro
The Black-headed Brushfinch is a large Arremon brushfinch with an all-black head that lives in the undergrowth of montane forest. In the guide area it occurs only in the mountains of eastern Panama; most of its range lies in Colombia. It was formerly included in the Andean species Arremon torquatus.
Voice
Very high, thin and sibilant notes; the song is a short series of high, faint whistles.
Recording: JUAN ANTONIO ALONSO DE JUAN — CC BY 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
18–20 cm. Head entirely black, without crown or eyebrow stripes. Throat white. Upperparts olive-green. Breast and flanks grey, centre of the belly white. Bill black and fairly heavy, legs long and sturdy. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller and browner.
Confusion species
Costa Rican Brushfinch Arremon costaricensis has a grey central crown stripe and grey supercilium, but lives only in western Panama and Costa Rica. Chestnut-capped Brushfinch Arremon brunneinucha has a chestnut crown and a narrow black breast band. Orange-billed Sparrow Arremon aurantiirostris is smaller and has an orange bill, a white supercilium and a black breast band.
Habitat
Undergrowth and edges of humid foothill and montane forest, mainly at middle elevations. It searches the ground for insects and seeds by scratching backwards in the leaf litter.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area only in the mountains of eastern Panama in Darién, such as the Serranía de Pirre and the Serranía del Darién around Cerro Tacarcuna. Outside the guide area in the Andes and isolated ranges of northern and central Colombia.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Panama reachable only on an expedition to the mountains of Darién. Best found by listening for rustling in the leaf litter along forest trails.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Common in Colombia; in Panama confined to a small, remote and largely forested area.
Scientific name
Arremon atricapillus | (Lawrence, 1874)
Lawrence described the species in 1874 as Buarremon atricapillus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Arremon was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. Arremon is Greek, from arrhēmōn 'silent, speechless', after Buffon's 'Oiseau silencieux', a bird said to be rarely heard. atricapillus is Latin, from ater 'black' and -capillus '-capped', after the black head. The specimen the first description was based on came from 'Bogotá', Colombia.