Band-tailed Sierra-Finch (Porphyrospiza alaudina)

Identification & Behavior: ~14.5 cm (5.7 in). The male Band-tailed Sierra-Finch is all gray with a white belly, vent, and undertail coverts. The bill and legs are orange. It has a broad white band on the tail. The female has brown upperparts with dusky streaks without a white band on the tail. The underparts are pale with dusky streaks on the breast. The legs are yellowish and the bill yellowish-gray. The Band-tailed Sierra-Finch forages on the ground. The tail pattern in the male is similar to that of a Band-tailed Seedeater but is distinguished by having a white belly and white undertail coverts. Also see, a female Mourning Sierra-Finch and Short-billed Pipit.

Status: The Band-tailed Sierra-Finch is uncommon in open country on the west slope of the Andes and inter-Andean valleys at elevations ranging from sea level to 4000 m. It also occurs in Ec, Bo, and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Fringilo de Cola Bandeada.

Sub-species: Band-tailed Sierra-Finch (Porphyrospiza alaudinus humboldti), Koepcke, 1963.  SW Ecuador and NW Peru.
(Porphyrospiza alaudinus bipartitus) J. T. Zimmer, 1924.  highlands of Ecuador S through coastal slope in Peru to extreme N Chile (Putre, in Arica–Parinacota region).
(Porphyrospiza alaudinus bracki), O’Neill and T. A. Parker, 1997.  Huallaga Valley, in C Peru.
(Porphyrospiza alaudinus excelsus), Berlepsch, 1906.  S Peru (highlands of Arequipa and Puno) and W Bolivia.

Meaning of Name: Porphyrospiza: Gr. porphyrio, porphyro= purple or purplish color and spiza= finch. alaudinus: L. alauda= lark, alaudinus= lark-like, of a lark.

Formerly known as Phrygilus alaudinus (2018).

See more of the Family Thraupidae