Chestnut-capped Brushfinch - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Coati
Cerro Punta, Panama, April 2011

Arremon brunneinucha

Buarremon brunneinucha
Includes Plain-breasted Brush-Finch

Identification

Subspecies differ mainly in the extent of grey on underparts of the body (less in South America²). The black band below the white throat is absent or at least reduced in some South American subspecies², and in apertus ("Plain-breasted Brush-Finch") from Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Mexico³.

This is likely subspecies suttoni
Photo © by Raul Padilla
Tenango, Mexico, 5 June 2011

Distribution

From Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru in South America.

Taxonomy

Chestnut-capped Brush Finch has in the past been placed in genus Atlapetes and is now sometimes placed in Buarremon.

Subspecies

Ten subspecies are recognized¹:

• A. b. apertus (Plain-breasted): Southern Mexico (Sierra de Tuxtla of southern Veracruz)
• A. b. suttoni: Mountains of south-western Mexico (Guerrero to central Oaxaca)
• A. b. nigrilatera: Mountains of southern Mexico (Oaxaca)
• A. b. brunneinucha: Subtropical eastern Mexico (San Luis Potosí and Veracruz to north-eastern Oaxaca)
• A. b. macrourus: Mountains of southern Mexico (Chiapas) and south-western Guatemala
• A. b. alleni: Mountains of northern El Salvador, Honduras and western Nicaragua
• A. b. elsae: Mountains of Costa Rica to western and central Panama
• A. b. frontalis: Mountains of extreme eastern Panama to Colombia, western Venezuela and southern Peru
• A. b. allinornatus: Mountains of north-western Venezuela (Falcón and Yaracuy)
• A. b. inornatus: Mountains of west-central Ecuador (Río Chimbo and Río Chanchan area)

This is likely subspecies frontalis
Photo © by NJLarsen
Tapichalaca, Zamora-Chinchipe, SE Ecuador, 14 June 2019

Habitat

Forest and edge in highlands and foothills.

Behaviour

Almost exclusively found on the ground.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
3. Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Chestnut-capped Brushfinch. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Chestnut-capped_Brushfinch

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