White-headed Brushfinch

The white-headed brushfinch is 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in) long. It weighs 35 to 39 g (1.2 to 1.4 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black crown and nape; the rest of their head including the forecrown is white. Their upperparts are slate gray and their wings and tail are slightly more blackish. Their primaries have white bases that show as a patch on the closed wing. A very thin black line separates their ear coverts from their throat. Their breast and flanks are grayish and their belly and vent white. They have a brown iris, a black bill, and gray legs and feet.

The white-headed brushfinch is found on the Andes' Pacific slope from southern Loja Province in southwestern Ecuador south to Lambayeque and southwestern Cajamarca departments in northern Peru. It inhabits dry deciduous forest, dry scrublands, and gallery forest. In elevation it ranges between 200 and 1,100 m (700 and 3,600 ft) in Ecuador and up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in Peru.

The white-headed brushfinch's diet has not been studied but is known to include seeds and arthropods. It usually forages in pairs or small groups, on the ground and in low vegetation. It sometimes flocks with other brushfinches.