SPARROWS AND FINCHES   -   EMBERIZIDAE   -   PART II

Large-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus crassirostris (ssp?) Tobia, Cundinamarca department, Colombia. Male. A rather localized species, rare in most of it's range. This bird was in dry woodland in an inter-Andean valley in central Colombia, a very different habitat from the other ones I've seen, which have been in wet fields or on river islands.		Black-billed Seed-Finch Oryzoborus atrirostris (ssp?) Cocha Camungo, Madre de Dios department, Peru. Male. A rare bird, and this is the only one I have seen. While it was perched up in a tree next to a lake, we actually scoped it from the top of a canopy platform.

São Francisco Sparrow Arremon franciscanus 5 km south of Palmeiras, Bahia state, Brazil. This species was only described in 1997, and is known only from a few caatinga areas of Minas Gerais and Bahia in Brazil. Compare it with the next species, which comes close in range.

Saffron-billed Sparrow Arremon flavirostris polionotus Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso state, Brazil.

Orange-billed Sparrow Arremon aurantiirostris aurantiirostris Soberania NP, Panama province, Panama. Male.		Olive Finch Arremon castaneiceps Milpe Bird Sanctuary, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Usually placed in the genus Lysurus, but SACC merged that genus with Arremon despite its very different appearance.

Tanager Finch Oreothraupis arremonops Yellow-eared Parrot reserve, above Jardín, Antioquia dept., Colombia. A very localized Chocó endemic, found in montane forest from western Colombia to northwestern Ecuador. It is best known from the Tandayapa ridge in Ecuador, as no other site is as easily accessible.

Santa Marta Brush-Finch Atlapetes melanocephalus Jeniam Ecolodge, Santa Marta mtns., Magdalena dept., Colombia. Possibly the most common endemic encountered on the San Lorenzo road in the Santa Marta mountains. These pretty birds are very curious and easy to see.

White-winged Brush-Finch Atlapetes leucopterus leucopterus Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. This is mainly a bird of arid regions, but they seem to be inceasing in more humid cloudforest areas of NW Ecuador, such as here at Tandayapa.

Fulvous-headed Brush-Finch Atlapetes fulviceps Potrero de Yala provincial park, Jujuy province, Argentina.

Yellow-striped Brush-Finch Atlapetes citrinellus Rio Sosa, Tucuman province, Argentina. A great little brush-finch endemic to a rather small area in the Andes of nothern Argentina. Those are impressive claws for a small bird!

Many-colored Chaco-Finch Saltatricula multicolor El Tunal, Salta province, Argentina. Another neat bird, there's nothing else really quite like it. It was singing, which why its head is lifted up like that.

Pileated Finch Coryphospingus pileatus pileatus Serra da Canstra NP, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Male. When his crest is all the way down, the red can be difficult to see.		Pileated Finch Coryphospingus pileatus pileatus Chapada Diamantina, Bahia state, Brazil. Female. She lacks the red crest and usually shows some fain streaking on the breast.

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