- Lophospingus griseocristatus
Identification
14cm. Pale grey to brownish passerine with a crest.
- Plain grey head with crest (usually kept lowered)
- Grey upperparts with olive wash on back
- Brownish upperwings with grey upperwing-coverts
- Brownish-grey tail
- Pale grey throat, breast and flanks
- Contrasting whitish belly, vent and undertail-coverts
- Relatively deep-based bill, upper mandible dark, lower mandible yellow to pinkish with dark tip
Sexes similar. Juveniles are much more brownish than adults, have a short crest, a pale buff supercilium, an off-white throat and two narrow buffy wingbars.
Distribution
Southeast Bolivia and extreme northwest Argentina.
Locally common in Bolivia, rare in Argentina.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
It has in the past been placed in its own monotypic genus Schistospiza.
Habitat
Found in desert and near-desert in dry intermontane valleys.
Occurs at 1000 - 3100m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on seeds and insects.
Forages on the ground in small flocks, often in areas of bare earth near vegetation.
Breeding
Breeding little known. Juveniles observed in December and June and in April.
Movements
A sedentary species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2011. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553781
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Gray-crested Finch. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Gray-crested_Finch
