Sierra Nevada Brushfinch

The Sierra Nevada brushfinch is about 19 cm (7.5 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black crown with a gray stripe in the middle, a gray supercilium that extends to the nape and continues behind the ear coverts. The rest of their face is black. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive-green. Their throat is white with a narrow black band below it. The center of their breast and belly is white and their sides, flanks, and vent are brownish olive. They have a dark chestnut-brown iris, a black bill, and blackish legs and feet. Juveniles have an unstriped dusky head with browner upperparts than adults and pale brownish underparts with dark brown streaks.

The Sierra Nevada brushfinch is found only in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in far northern Colombia. It inhabits humid montane forest where it favors the undergrowth at the edges. In elevation it ranges between 600 and 2,800 m (2,000 and 9,200 ft).

The Sierra Nevada brushfinch's diet has not been studied. It forages singly and in pairs. It forages on the ground, usually under vegetative cover, pushing aside leaf litter with its bill.