Choco Brush Finch

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Santa Lucia Reserve, Ecuador, March 2011

Bird name: Choco Brush Finch
Latin: Atlapetes crassus
Other: Tricolored Brush Finch (SACC) • Matorralero tricolor (Es)
Family: Emberizidae • Brush Finches
Range: Colombia, Ecuador
Similar: Tricolored Finch, Rufous-naped Brush Finch, Pale-naped Finch

Well, I was going to upload this photo as a record shot of a Tricolored Finch in the cloudforest, but I see that the IOC currently has Choco Brush Finch in Ecuador, and Tricolored Brush Finch in Peru, so I guess that the former is this bird.

Ridgely has “Tricolored Brush Finch” as occurring between 600 and 1800m on the northwest slope - I saw the bird above at about 1800m at the Santa Lucia Reserve, north of Quito.

I saw similar birds at Yanacocha but rejected them as Choco/Tricolored because at 3700m that should be out of range.