Chestnut-capped Brushfinch
Arremon brunneinucha
Fairly stocky, sparrowlike bird of highland forests. Occurs mainly in humid evergreen and pine-oak forest understory, often in brushy flower banks and shady canyons, where typically skulking and difficult to see well. Feeds on or near the ground, usually in pairs. White throat stands out against black cheeks and narrow black breast band (birds of Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, lack breast band); also note narrow tawny eyebrow and dark rusty cap. Collared Towhee is larger and brighter with big black collar and whitish eyebrow.
Identification
The chestnut-capped brushfinch is a large, robust, mainly terrestrial species, 19 cm long and weighing 45 g. It has a long slender bill and large feet and legs. The adult has a distinctive head pattern, with a yellow-edged chestnut crown and nape, black forehead and head sides, white spots in the centre and each side of the forehead, and a white throat which is often puffed up when the bird is excited. The upperparts are dark olive, with darker wings. The white central breast is separated from the white throat by a black band. The breast sides are grey, and the flanks and lower belly are olive-green. Young birds have a sooty-brown cap, sooty face and olive-brown upperparts, throat and breast.<p>The chestnut-capped brushfinch has a thin pink call and a very high-pitched psssst. The male's song consists of a mixture of whistles and sharper notes.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Arremon brunneinucha
- Authority
- (Lafresnaye, 1839)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Passerellidae
- Genus
- Arremon
Range and habitat
This is a common bird in the undergrowth of wet mountain forests, second growth, and ravines at from 900 m to 250 m altitude. It breeds in highlands from central Mexico to south-eastern Peru.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The nest, built by the female, is a large cup of plant material placed less than 2.5 m up in a shrub or small tree in dense scrub or a ravine. The typical clutch is two glossy, unmarked white or pale blue eggs, which are incubated by the female alone for 12–14 days before hatching.<p>The chestnut-capped brushfinch feeds on insects and spiders extracted from the leaf litter with its bill, and will also pick berries and invertebrate prey from low bushes. It is seen in pairs or family parties.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Halmahera Boobook
Ninox hypogramma
A brown owl with a rounded head, yellow eyes, and rufescent barred underparts. Inhabits forest in the lowlands and lower foothills, where it usually occurs in territorial pairs. Confined to the North Moluccas, where it overlaps with migrant Northern Boobook and Barking Owl, but can be separated from those species by its barred underparts and very different voice. Song is a gruff, abrupt, two-note frog-like “woo-wooo” with a slightly longer second note.
White-browed Coucal
Centropus superciliosus
A large, robust, ungainly cuckoo with rufous wings and a long, broad tail. Shows a solid dark cap and back of the head, and white underparts. Unlike other coucals, shows an obviously barred rump and upper tail coverts. It often moves clumsily, preferring to clamber about in rank vegetation or walk on the ground foraging for insects or small vertebrates. Its flight is labored and heavy. This species uses a wide variety of habitats with a thick understory, including savanna, woodland, forest edge, and wetlands. The song is a deep descending bubbling series, “bu-bu-bu bu bu bu bu”, that falls and then rises in pitch.
Rhinoceros Hornbill
Buceros rhinoceros
Majestic and stately inhabitant of mature lowland and foothill forests. Pitch black with a white tail marked by a single dark bar. Enormous bill is bright orange with a prominent casque that is short and rectangular in females, long and upswept in males. Often seen in powerful flight over forests, typically in pairs or small groups. Gives low, resonant calls, usually in series: either a single-syllabled “rohh” or a disyllabic “roh-ow.”
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