Vilcabamba Brush-Finch (Atlapetes terborghi)

Identification & Behavior: ~16.5 cm (6.5 in). The Vilcabamba Brush-finch has blackish upperparts tail, and sides of the head. The crown and nape are rich rufous. The throat is yellow and grades to yellow-greenish toward the belly. Very little is known about this bird, but like other brush-finches, it is expected to forage in the understory of forest edges, thick shrubbery on or near the ground. It is likely to overlap with the Tricolored Brush-Finch but is distinguished by darker upperparts and rich rufous crown and nape.

Status: Endemic. The Vilcabamba Brush-Finch is poorly known in its very restricted range in humid montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 2500-3500 m.

Name in Spanish: Matorralero de Vilcabamba.

Sub-species: Vilcabamba Brush-Finch (Atlapetes terborghi), Remsen, 1993.

Meaning of Name: Atlapetes: Gr. myth. Atlas, a Titan king who was changed into a mountain and petes= flier, to fly. terborghi: In honor of Dr. John Whittle Terborgh (b. 1936) US zoologist, environmentalist.

See more of the Family Passerellidae