Slaty Finch

Haplospiza rustica

Small finchlike bird, actually more closely related to tanagers. Male is uniform slaty gray overall with no contrasting plumage features. Female is paler grayish with some buffy tones on face and blurry streaking on breast. Best feature on both sexes is bill: fairly long and very pointy. A nomadic bamboo specialist, difficult to reliably locate because populations move around to follow seeding Chusquea bamboo. Usually seen singly or in pairs; typically stays on or near the ground. Listen for stuttering high-pitched song.

Identification

The slaty finch (Haplospiza rustica) is a bird species in the family Thraupidae (formerly in Emberizidae). It is found in Central America and the northern Andes. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and heavily degraded former forest.

Taxonomy

Genus: Haplospiza; Family: Thraupidae; Order: Passeriformes.

Scientific name
Haplospiza rustica
Authority
(Tschudi, 1844)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Thraupidae
Genus
Haplospiza

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: declining.

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Antarctic Tern

Antarctic Tern

Sterna vittata

A light gray medium-sized tern. Black cap extends to bill in breeding plumage. Bill and legs red. In non-breeding birds, cap reduced to just the area behind the eye, bill has dull pinkish color, and underparts are white. Breeds in the circumpolar subantarctic region. Generally known to stay close to their breeding sites. Migrating Arctic Tern could occur in the same area, but not in breeding plumage, and would show more prominent black markings on outer primaries. White-fronted Tern can be distinguished by its larger body, lighter coloring, and longer, thinner, all-black bill.

Black-thighed Falconet

Black-thighed Falconet

Microhierax fringillarius

Dwarfed by shrikes and thrushes, this tiny raptor looks almost parakeet-like as it perches on exposed branches. Coloration distinctive: birds are black above with a white chest and rusty orange belly. Black forehead “earmuffs” are unique among the region’s raptors. Inhabits lowland and foothill forests, where it is generally fairly uncommon. Rather social for a raptor, often seen preening and feeding together in small flocks.

Macaroni Penguin

Macaroni Penguin

Eudyptes chrysolophus

Medium-sized bulky penguin with a bulbous red bill and a dash of stiff orange “hair.” Disappointingly, named for the resemblance of its spiffy, “fashionable” crest to the hairstyle of fashionable youth, or “macaronis”, and not for the pasta-sauce-orange color of the crest itself. Similar to Southern Rockhopper Penguin, but note Macaroni’s larger size, much more heavy build, chunkier bill, and a droopier, more orange, crest. Breeds in noisy colonies on rocky islands, across a wide area of the Subantarctic and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

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