Pale-naped Brush-Finch (Atlapetes pallidinucha)

Identification & Behavior: ~18 cm (7 in). The Pale-naped Brush-Finch has gray upperparts and tail. The forehead is wide and yellow-orange in color narrowing and grading to pale towards the crown and nape. The sides of the head are black. The throat is yellow grading to gray towards the belly. It forages in dense understory of interior montane forest and also at forest edges where it seems to be associated with bamboo thickets. The Pale-naped Brush-Finch is similar to the Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch (comptus) but is distinguished by a narrow and pale crown and nape.

Status: The Pale-naped Brush-Finch is fairly common in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes only on the north and west side of the Marañon River. It generally ranges at elevations between 2500-3200 m. The Pale-naped Brush-Finch also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Matorralero de Nuca Pálida.

Sub-species: Pale-naped Brush-Finch (Atlapetes pallidinucha papallactae), Hellmayr, 1913.

Meaning of Name: Atlapetes: Gr. myth. Atlas, a Titan king who was changed into a mountain and petes= flier, to fly. pallidinucha: L. pallids= pale, pallere= to be pale and nuchus= nape.

See more of the Family Passerellidae