Bolivian Brush-Finch

About the Bolivian Brush-Finch

The Bolivian brushfinch (Atlapetes rufinucha) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is endemic to Bolivia. The Bolivian brushfinch was formally described in 1837 with the binomial Embernagra rufi-nucha. By the end of the twentieth century it had been reassigned to its present genus Atlapetes and acquired the English name "rufus-naped brushfinch". By then had been assigned many subspecies but it was suspected that most of them deserved to be treated as full species. Early in the twenty-first century all but two of the subspecies were split as species. At that time A. rufinucha was renamed the Bolivian brushfinch to avoid confusion with the pre-split version.

The two subspecies of the Bolivian brushfinch are the nominate A. r. rufinucha (Lafresnaye & D'Orbigny, 1837) and A. r. carrikeri (Bond and Meyer de Schauensee, 1939). The Bolivian brushfinch is about 17 cm (6.7 in) long and weighs about 21 to 22 g (0.74 to 0.78 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a blackish forehead and a rufous crown and nape. Their face is mostly blackish with a bright yellow spot above... Wikipedia →