Blackcap Illadopsis

Small tanager of semi-humid upper montane forest in NW Argentina and the southern half of the Bolivian Andes. The only Warbling-finch in range with a rufous supercilium. From Cochabamba Mountain-Finch by rufous underparts, smaller size, shorter tail. Bold white slash down wing panel distinctive.

A small, compact finch-like sociable lark that is nomadic, and often irrupts in large numbers after good rains. The sexes differ in plumage: the distinctive male is mostly black, including under the wings, with chestnut-sprinkled upperparts; the female is reddish-brown above and streaked underneath. Small to medium-sized flocks (often mixed with Gray-backed Sparrow-Lark) can appear in grassy shrubland in the Karoo and Kalahari, where dark males are conspicuous when they fly up on broad wings and flap slowly in the fashion of a butterfly. They drop to the ground and land on bare patches, where they shuffle along foraging for seeds and insects. The female Black-eared Sparrow-Lark is told apart from other female sparrow-larks by its all-dark underwings in flight and the lack of a black belly patch.

Fairly small rufous-brown bird found on the east slope of the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia. Wings and tail are bright rufous, contrasting with duller brown body and head. Note rufous cap and slightly paler eyebrow. Compare with Red-faced Spinetail, which has entirely rufous cheek and crown. Look for singles or pairs in the middle levels and canopy of montane forest and edge from around 900 to 2,000 m. Forages with mixed-species flocks, hitching along branches and probing into patches of moss and clumps of dead leaves.