Slaty brushfinch

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Slaty brushfinch
In Colombia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passerellidae
Genus: Atlapetes
Species:
A. schistaceus
Binomial name
Atlapetes schistaceus
(Boissonneau, 1840)

The slaty brushfinch or northern slaty brushfinch[2] (Atlapetes schistaceus) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found from Venezuela to Ecuador.[3]

Taxonomy and systematics

The slaty brushfinch was formally described in 1840 with the binomial Tanagra (Arremon) schistaceus.[4] It was reassigned to its present genus Atlapetes in 1911.[5]

The slaty brushfinch has these four subspecies:[3]

What is now the Cuzco brushfinch (A. canigenis) was long treated as another subspecies but by the early twenty-first century it was widely recognized as a full species.[6] What most taxonomic systems recognize as Taczanowski's brushfinch (A. taczanowskii) was also long treated as another subspecies. BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World recognized it as a species in 2016.[7] The IOC and the Clements taxonomy followed suit in 2024, though Clements calls it the Peruvian slaty brushfinch.[8][9] The first version of AviList in 2025 also recognized it.[10] However, as of February 2026 the independent South American Classification Committee has declined to recognize the split.[6]

This article follows the four-subspecies model.[3]

Description

The slaty brushfinch is 17 to 18 cm (6.7 to 7.1 in) long and weighs about 23 to 44 g (0.81 to 1.6 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies A. s. schistaceus have a rusty crown and nape and a mostly black face. They have a whitish spot on the lores and a long white "moustache" with a thin black stripe below it. Their upperparts are dark gray and their tail blackish. Their wings are mostly blackish with white bases on the primaries and white marginal coverts. The last shows as a white spot on the folded wing. Their throat is whitish with dark speckles, their breast, flanks, and undertail coverts medium gray, and the center of their belly whitish. Juveniles have some black streaks in the crown and blackish streaks on the breast and flanks.[11]

Subspecies A. s. castaneifrons has a paler crown than the nominate with nearly blackish upperparts and no white on the primaries. A. s. fumidus has paler upperparts and darker underparts than castaneifrons. A. s. tamae also is like castaneifrons with darker underparts. All subspecies have a dark reddish brown iris, a blackish bill, and brown-gray legs and feet.[11]

Distribution and habitat

The slaty brushfinch has a disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:[11]

The slaty brushfinch inhabits the shrubby edges and undergrowth of a variety of humid to wet forest types. These include elfin forest, cloudforest, and montane secondary forest.[11] In Venezuela it also occurs above tree line in patches of trees.[13] In elevation it ranges between 2,000 and 3,800 m (6,600 and 12,500 ft) in Venezuela, between 2,000 and 3,600 m (6,600 and 11,800 ft) in Colombia, and mostly between 2,500 and 3,400 m (8,200 and 11,200 ft) in Ecuador.[13][12][14]

Behavior

Movement

The slaty brushfinch is a year-round resident.[11]

Feeding

The slaty brushfinch feeds on a wide variety of insects, other small invertebrates, and fruits. It forages singly or in pairs and regularly joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It mostly forages in the forest undergrowth up to about 5 m (15 ft) above the ground, in contrast to many other brushfinches which forage mainly near the ground. However, it does forage as high as the canopy. It generally takes its food by gleaning.[11][13][14]

Breeding

The slaty brushfinch's breeding season has not been fully defined. It includes November in Venezuela, apparently spans April to September or beyond in Colombia, and includes December in Ecuador. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.[11]

Vocalization

The slaty brushfinch sings mostly at dawn, "a short tsuu, tweet-tweet". Pairs sing in duet, "poorly coordinated...high-pitched notes and trills that end with [a] distinctive chewy-chewy-chewy or t'chew, t'chew, t'chew". When foraging it makes "thin tseet notes".[13]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the slaty brushfinch as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is considered common in Venezuela and Colombia and less common in Ecuador.[13][12][14]

References

  1. BirdLife International (2024). "Slaty Brushfinch Atlapetes schistaceus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024 e.T103774619A264363122. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T103774619A264363122.en. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
  2. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2025. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2025. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 3, 2025
  3. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (April 2026). "New World sparrows". IOC World Bird List. v 15.2. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  4. Boissonneau, Auguste (1840). "Oiseaux nouveaux de Santa-Fé de Bogota". Revue zoologique (in French). Société cuvierienne: 69. Retrieved May 24, 2026.
  5. Berlepsch, H. Graf von (1911). Revision der Tanagriden. Pp. 1001-1161 in: Schalow, H. ed. (1911). "Verhandlungen des V. Internationalen Ornithologen-Kongresses in Berlin 1910, 30 Mai bis 4 Juni 1910". Deutsche Ornithologische Gesellschaft, Berlin. (In German).
  6. Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 27 February 2026. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithologists' Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved February 28, 2026
  7. BirdLife International (2016) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. [Old] Version 9. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/BirdLife_Checklist_Version_90.zip.
  8. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "IOC World Bird List". v 14.2. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  9. Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 23, 2024
  10. AviList Core Team. 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025 retrieved June 11, 2025
  11. Jaramillo, A., J. del Hoyo, N. Collar, and G. M. Kirwan (2024). Northern Slaty Brushfinch (Atlapetes schistaceus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, N. C. García, and M. G. Smith, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.slabru1.01 retrieved May 24, 2026
  12. McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-9827615-0-2.
  13. Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela (second ed.). Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 810.
  14. Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 687. ISBN 978-0-8014-8721-7.