Yellow-headed Brushfinch

This bird was encountered in the La Plata Vieja Valley in Huila Department in 1967, but the only recent records are from the upper Coello River basin in Tolima Department (the Toché River is one of the main tributaries of the Coello River). Namely, it is found between 1,000 and 2,500 meters ASL in Cajamarca, Ibagué and Roncesvalles and perhaps Rovira municipalities, in the upper reaches of the Anaime, Cocora, Combeima and Toché river valleys. It remains locally common in thick secondary vegetation and degraded forest, bordering gallery forest and arracacha (Arracacia xanthorriza) and granadilla (Passiflora species) plantations. The yellow-headed brush finch has been observed to take part in mixed-species feeding flocks together with the common bush-tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus), white-throated tyrannulet (Mecocerculus leucophrys), golden-fronted whitestart (Myioborus ornatus), blue-and-black tanager (Tangara vassorii), blue-capped tanager (Thraupis cyanocephala) and fawn-breasted tanager (Pipraeidea melanonota). It is threatened by habitat loss; most areas in the inter-Andean valleys of Colombia have already been converted to agricultural land. The total population is believed to be at least 250 but not more than 1,000 adult birds.