Biology:Grey-browed brushfinch

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Short description: Species of bird


Grey-browed brushfinch
A. a. assimilis, Colombia

File:Arremon assimilis - Grey-browed Brush Finch XC242118.mp3

Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passerellidae
Genus: Arremon
Species:
A. assimilis
Binomial name
Arremon assimilis
(Boissonneau, 1840)
Synonyms

See text

The grey-browed brushfinch (Arremon assimilis) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.[2]

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-browed brushfinch has a complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described in 1840 with the binomial Tanagra (Arrémon, Vieillot; Embernagra, Lesson) assimilis.[3] It was later reassigned to the genus Buarremon that was later merged into genus Atlapetes. Further study resulted in Buarremon's being resurrected.[4] Buarremon assimilis was later reassigned as one of many subspecies of what was then the "stripe-headed brushfinch" (Buarremon torquatus). In 2008 taxonomists began merging Buarremon into Arremon.[5] Following a study published in 2010 and some earlier studies, taxonomists began splitting the "stripe-headed brushfinch" into eight species, one of which was the grey-browed brushfinch.[6][7]

The grey-browed brushfinch has these four subspecies:[2]

  • A. a. larensis (Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1949)
  • A. a. assimilis (Boissonneau, 1840)
  • A. a. nigrifrons (Chapman, 1923)
  • A. a. poliophrys (Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1896)

A 2014 publication suggested that A. a. larensis might be a full species.[8]

Description

The grey-browed brushfinch is 19 to 20 cm (7.5 to 7.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies A. a. assimilis have a black crown with a gray stripe in the middle and a gray supercilium that extends to the nape and wraps down around the back of the ear coverts to the sides of the breast. The rest of their face is black. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive-green. Their throat is white that continues through the breast and belly. The sides of their breast and flanks are gray and their vent grayish olive. Juveniles are generally olive with dusky cheeks.[9]

Subspecies A. a. larensis has a wider gray supercilium than the nominate and a black band separating the throat and breast. A. a. nigrifrons' gray crown stripe begins farther back than the nominate's and its supercilium ends just past the eye. A. a. poliophrys has a black band between the throat and breast. All subspecies have a deep chestnut-brown iris, a black bill, and pinkish to gray legs and feet.[9]

Distribution and habitat

The grey-browed brushfinch has a disjunct distribution along the Andes from Venezuela to Peru. The subspecies are found thus:[9]

  • A. a. larensis: western Venezuela from northern Táchira north to southeastern Lara[10]
  • A. a. assimilis: from Mérida in western Venezuela south through all three ranges of the Colombian Andes and the Andes of Ecuador into northern Peru's Department of La Libertad[11]
  • A. a. nigrifrons: from southwestern Ecuador's El Oro and Loja provinces south in Peru to La Libertad
  • A. a. poliophrys: Andes of central and southern Peru from the Department of Huánuco to the Department of Puno[11]

The grey-browed brushfinch inhabits the interior and edges of humid montane forest and secondary forest.[9] It ranges in elevation between 900 and 1,800 m (3,000 and 5,900 ft) in Venezuela, between 2,000 and 3,600 m (6,600 and 11,800 ft) in Colombia, between 1,900 and 3,500 m (6,200 and 11,500 ft) in the northern part of Ecuador, and between 900 and 3,000 m (3,000 and 9,800 ft) and locally much lower in the southern part.[10][12][13] In far northwestern Peru it ranges between 400 and 750 m (1,300 and 2,500 ft) and elsewhere in the country between 1,200 and 3,500 m (3,900 and 11,500 ft).[11]

Behavior

Movement

The grey-browed brushfinch is a year-round resident.[9]

Feeding

The grey-browed brushfinch's diet has not been studied. It typically forages singly or in pairs. It forages on the ground, usually under cover, scratching in leaf litter with its bill.[9][10]

Breeding

The grey-browed brushfinch's breeding season has not been defined. However, it includes June in Colombia, July through September in Ecuador, and June, August, and November in Peru. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.[9]

Dickcissel male perched on a metal pole singing, with neck stretched and beak open.

Songs and calls
Listen to the grey-browed brushfinch on xeno-canto

Vocalization

The grey-browed brushfinch's song is "a high, sibilant series of thin whistles with short spaces between separate phrases (often of three elements), e.g. weseer-twee twesee? Sewtsee? Weseer-twee tweswee? Sewtswee?...". Its calls include "a high ti and a tseer".[9]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the grey-browed brushfinch as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is considered uncommon to common in Venezuela, common in Colombia, "widespread" in Ecuador, and fairly common in Peru.[10][12][13][11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 BirdLife International (2024). "Grey-browed Brushfinch Arremon assimilis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2024. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22724905A264279657.en. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22724905/264279657. Retrieved 6 May 2026. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds (April 2026). "New World sparrows". https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/sparrows//. 
  3. ↑ Boissonneau, Auguste (1840). "Oiseaux nouveaus de Santa-Fé de Bogota" (in French). Revue zoologique (Société cuvierienne): 67–68. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13714071. Retrieved May 6, 2026. 
  4. ↑ Cadena, C. D., J. Klicka and R. E. Ricklefs. (2007). "Evolutionary differentiation in the Neotropical montane region: molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of Buarremon brush-finches (Aves, Emberizidae)." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 44(3): 993-1016.
  5. ↑ Richard C. Banks, R. Terry Chesser, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Forty-ninth supplement to the American Ornithological Society s Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk 2008, vol. 125:758-768 retrieved January 27, 2023
  6. ↑ Cadena, C. D., and A. M. Cuervo (2010). "Molecules, ecology, morphology, and songs in concert: how many species is Arremon torquatus (Aves: Emberizidae)?" Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 99(1): 152-176
  7. ↑ Cadena, C. D. (September 2010). "Proposal (#468) to South American Classification Committee – Species limits in Arremon torquatus". https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop468.htm.  The proposal passed in June 2011.
  8. ↑ López-O., J. P., J. E. Avendaño, N. Gutiérrez-Pinto, and A. M. Cuervo (2014). "The birds of the Serranía de Perijá: the northernmost avifauna of the Andes". Ornitología Colombiana 14:62–93.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Jaramillo, A. (2020). Gray-browed Brushfinch (Arremon assimilis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.sthbrf8.01 retrieved May 6, 2026
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Hilty, Steven L. (2003) (in English). Birds of Venezuela (second ed.). Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 812. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Schulenberg, T.S.; Stotz, D.F.; Lane, D.F.; O'Neill, J.P.; Parker, T.A. III (2010). Birds of Peru. Princeton Field Guides (revised and updated ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 602. ISBN 978-0691130231. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. pp. 207. ISBN 978-0-9827615-0-2. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 689–690. ISBN 978-0-8014-8721-7. 

Wikidata ☰ Q5608066 entry



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