Animalia Life
Atlapetes brunneinucha
TAXONOMY
Embernagra brunnei-nucha Lafresnaye, 1839, Veracruz, Mexico.
Nine subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Tohi а nuque brune; German: Braunkopf-Buschammer;
Spanish: Saltуn Gorricastiaсo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
7–7.5 in (17.19.5 cm); 1.2 oz (33 g). Sexes similar in color. A
medium-sized sparrow with a chestnut cap, black forehead and
side of face, a black band across the throat (lacking in some
populations), a white throat, gray flanks, and olive-green back,
wings, and tail. Juveniles have a blackish brown head with
brownish olive upperparts, white mottling on the throat, and a
yellow-streaked belly.
DISTRIBUTION
Resident from southern Veracruz and Guerrero south to
Panama, and in South America from northern Venezuela and
Colombia to southern Peru.
HABITAT
Montane evergreen forest and secondary forest.
BEHAVIOR
Do not form flocks, but individuals of a pair stay together, and
when young are fledged the family group feeds together for
some time. They live in dense undergrowth and rarely sing
from an exposed perch. They commonly puff out their white
throats.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forage on the ground primarily for insects. They lurk on the
outskirts of a column of army ants where they presumably capture
insects that are flushed by the ants.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous, and the individuals of the pair are always found
close together. They seem to produce one brood per year, and
the clutch contains one to two eggs. Nests are placed near the
ground. Incubation and fledging periods are unknown.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
Photo Gallery of - Chestnut-capped brush-finch
