Red-crested Finch Gallery

Coryphospingus cucullatus

The Birds of the World website provides this introductory information about the Red-crested Finch:  The Red-crested Finch occurs in arid scrub and dry deciduous forest. The bulk of its distribution is in central South America, from Bolivia east to south central Brazil and south to central Argentina; but there also are disjunct populations in Peru, in the Guianas, and in northeastern Brazil. Male Red-crested Finches are mostly dark red with a narrow white eye ring, a black crown and a partially concealed scarlet coronal stripe.  Females are more brown in color overall with a whitish throat and a crimson rump.  Red-crested Finches forage on the ground in or around vegetative cover; when not breeding, they often form flocks, which may join other species of seed-eating birds.

I saw and photographed my first Red-crested Finch on the morning of August 21, 2023 at Parque Mãe Bonifácia in Cuiabá, Brazil. I had a free day from tour activities, so I went to the park by myself and spent the morning walking the trails and looking for birds. A flash of bright red in a tree near a trail brought my attention to this bird.  For a more detailed description of the trip that included my sighting of this bird look at this blog post.  Here are some of my photos of this colorful little bird.