Yellow-headed Brush-Finch

About the Yellow-headed Brush-Finch

The yellow-headed brushfinch (Atlapetes flaviceps) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the American sparrow family, Passerellidae. It is endemic to Colombia. The common name is a semi-literal translation of the scientific name, with Atlapetes referring to the brushfinch genus, and flaviceps meaning "yellow-headed".

This species has a yellow to dark olive head. The throat, chin, malar streak, lores, eye-ring, and ear patch are bright yellow in any case. The rest of the plumage is yellow with dark olive upperparts, wing and tail. The variation in the head color is not well explained, but it is likely that the olive-headed individuals are females and/or immature birds.

It is sometimes still referred to by its obsolete common name, olive-headed brushfinch. That name is the result of an interesting error. A. flaviceps occurs in a very limited range, and is rare. Until the 1980s, it was known only from the two specimens collected on October 24 and 25, 1911, in the Toché River valley, and two additional specimens collected in 1942. Though the exact amount and brightness was variable in the few specimens, the bright yellow head of these birds was noted. It did not receive... Wikipedia →