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Green-striped Brushfinch | Arremon virenticeps
Groenkapstruikgors | Cerquero verdilistado
The Green-striped Brushfinch is a large Arremon brushfinch of the undergrowth of pine-oak and coniferous forest in the mountains of central and western Mexico. The black head with olive-green stripes distinguishes it from other brushfinches. It occurs only in the guide area.
Voice
High, thin and sibilant notes; the song is a short series of high whistles that often runs into a fast, faint trill.
Recording: David Ruíz Domínguez — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
18–20 cm. Head black with an olive-green central crown stripe and an olive-green supercilium. 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, with a yellowish throat.
Confusion species
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch Arremon brunneinucha, which locally occurs in the same forests, has a chestnut crown and a narrow black breast band below the puffed-out white throat. Rufous-capped Brushfinch Atlapetes pileatus is smaller and has a rufous cap and yellow underparts. Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus has a black head and back with white spots and rufous flanks.
Habitat
Undergrowth of humid pine-oak forest, pine and fir forest and forest edges in the high mountains, roughly from 1500 to 3500 m. It searches the ground for insects and seeds by scratching backwards in the leaf litter with both feet at once.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Endemic to the mountains of central and western Mexico: the Sierra Madre Occidental from Sinaloa and Durango southwards, and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt from Jalisco and Colima to Michoacán, the State of Mexico, Morelos and the Federal District.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Found in the mountain forests around Mexico City, such as Desierto de los Leones, and on the slopes of Nevado de Colima. Best early in the morning on quiet forest trails with dense undergrowth.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Locally fairly common, but sensitive to logging and to the loss of undergrowth through grazing and forest fires.
Scientific name
Arremon virenticeps | (Bonaparte, 1855)
Bonaparte described the species in 1855 as Buarremon virenticeps; 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. virenticeps is Latin, from virens 'green' and -ceps '-headed', after the green head stripes. The specimen the first description was based on came from Desierto de los Leones, near Mexico City, Mexico.