Slender-billed Finch
Xenospingus concolor
Long-tailed, often rather skulking “finch” (actually a tanager) of scrub, hedges, and riverside thickets in desert lowlands, where no very similar species are found. Adult blue-gray overall with slender, bright yellow bill, and yellow legs; tail often held cocked. Immature looks very different: streaky overall with white eyering and slender yellow bill (darker on youngest birds). Voice notably varied: chips, clucks, and chatters usually given from cover.
Identification
The slender-billed finch (Xenospingus concolor) is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Xenospingus. It is restricted to southwest Peru and northern Chile, and inhabits mainly riverine vegetation along coastal valleys. It has been considered endangered due to loss of habitat. Riparian thickets that were common are under pressure from logging by farm owners. Some information has indicated that it has adapted to threats by using olive tree plantations and other artificial habitats successfully.
Taxonomy
The slender-billed finch was formally described in 1837 by the French naturalists Alcide d'Orbigny and Frédéric de Lafresnaye under the binomial name Sylvia concolor. They specified the type location as the city of Arica which was then in Peru and is now in northern Chile. The slender-billed finch is the only species placed in the genus Xenospingus that was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1867. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek xenos meaning 'strange' or 'different' with spingos meaning 'finch'. The specific epithet concolor is Latin for 'uniform', 'similar in colour' or 'plain'. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<p>A molecular phylogenetic study of the tanagers published in 2014 found that the slender-billed finch was a member of the subfamily Poospizinae and was most closely related to the cinereous finch (Piezorina cinerea).
- Scientific name
- Xenospingus concolor
- Authority
- (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Xenospingus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Wedge-tailed Jery
Hartertula flavoviridis
Small, dark understory tetraka. Has yellowish underparts and a gray ear patch. Active bird that often pokes into clusters of dead leaves. Frequently joins flocks with tetrakas and other birds. Most common vocalization is an explosive up-and-down series of high-pitched notes. Larger, longer-tailed, and with darker underparts than other jeries. Unlike Cryptic Warbler, inhabits the understory, is much darker, and has a gray ear patch. Unlike Rand’s Warbler, has an indistinct eye-stripe and a greenish back.
White-collared Kite
Leptodon forbesi
Rather large raptor, mostly black above and white below. Note the mostly white tail with a broad dark band, and the black-and-white bars on the flight feathers. A range-restricted species of the northeast Atlantic forest. Often attracts attention by its call, a series of repetitive “kua-kua-kua-kua” notes given in a spectacular display flight. Adults of the similar Gray-headed Kite have a gray throat, dark gray back of neck, barred black-and-white underwing, and two dark bars on the tail. Immatures have a different underwing and tail pattern.
Mongolian Short-toed Lark
Calandrella dukhunensis
A small lark with a short, conical bill. It appears long and horizontal, and has strong streaks on the upperparts. Very similar to Greater Short-toed Lark, but Mongolian Short-toed is slightly larger, is warmer brown with a rust-colored tinge on the breast and underparts, and has bolder streaking. It usually inhabits open, dry grassy habitats. Song is a prolonged melodious jumble of notes, often given in flight. Calls, often heard when individuals or flocks go overhead, are distinctly trilly, with a squeaky-wet quality to them: “tr’liu, tr’liu, liu, liu”; not as strong and insistent-sounding as the calls of Greater Short-toed Lark.
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