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Patagonian Sierra-Finch
jmorlan

Patagonian Sierra-Finch (Phrygilus patagonicus)

This is a male. Females have a more olive mantle and less contrasting wings. This attractive species is found on forest edges in southern Chile and Argentina. It reminds me of a Junco, but it is apparently more closely related to the yellow-finches in the genus Sicalis. Taxonomy is complex. SACC has a proposal to reorganize these and related species. It appears that Phrygilus is not monophyletic and predictably IOC and H&M remove the hyphen in Sierra-Finch for that reason. HBW and Birdlife International retain the hyphen but put "finch" in lower case. These birds are not really finches. They are now included in the Tanager family (Thraupidae). However the similar looking, but unrelated juncos remain in Emberizidae.
Location
Chilo Island, Chile.
Date taken
1 February 2015
Scientific name
Phrygilus patagonicus
Equipment used
Nikon P510 CoolPix
Staff member
Opus Editor
Supporter
What an attractive guy he is Joe.

A super picture you've taken of him too - very well done laddie.
 

Media information

Category
Central & South America & Mexico
Added by
jmorlan
Date added
View count
30
Comment count
2

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